Journal of Power, Politics & Governance

The Sociality of Democracy
Francis Offor

Abstract
In this essay, we explore the idea of democracy beyond its political conception, by examining some structures and institutions of society that should nurture the ideals of democracy. This is with a view to broadening our conception of the space for entrenching a culture of democracy as a way of life and in the process, enhance its sustainability and performance on the African continent. Democracy we argued, in so far as it is anchored on the involvement and well-being of the people, must reflect the nature and quality of the character of people found in the polity; the character itself being the product of the people’s engagement with the very many ideals of democracy in the various groups and institutions of society to which they belong. It is such democratic habits of thought and action that become part of the fibre of the people, that will eventually define their involvement in the democratic process at the larger society. For us in Africa therefore, to make meaning of our current democratisation efforts and thereby enhance the performance of democracy on our continent, the various groups and institutions of society where the ideals of democracy are first devolved, and where people start learning how to think, act and behave democratically in the first instance, must be fully explored and brought into reckoning in our conceptualisation of democracy. This, the paper concludes, is the only way we can maintain the struggle for democracy on as many fronts as possible - political, economic, educational, scientific, artistic, religious - and consequently retain its original essence as a way of life or a mode of associated living.

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