AN ASSESSMENT OF DEMOCRACY AND MORAL DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA

Abstract

This paper argues that democracy has an intrinsic value. This has given it a wide acceptance all over the world. Democracy has been conceived as a fundamental creed in order to effectively oppose and overthrow the established order of the Monarchical and Aristocratic rule. However these values are no longer in place due to moral laxity in the society today. This paper aims at the actualization of intrinsic values of democracy. The paper discusses meaning and denitions of democracy, fundamental principles of democracy, meaning and denitions of development, theories of development, and dimensions of development and features of development. The problem the paper intends to solve is that intrinsic values which are pivotal to democracy are no longer in place. They are in extinction and complete state of moribund. This paper posits further that in today's society, morality is a necessary factor in the actualization of intrinsic values of democracy. The good of democracy may not be fully actualized where the citizens are not morally developed. The paper recommends that the culture of moralism must be embraced. Also, morality should be brought back to governance. Again, for democracy to succeed in our society, we should have air for moral development. The paper concludes that the citizens should adhere strictly to democratic rules, ethos and principles and these can only be achieved when citizens are morally developed.