Original Contribution SUSTAINING DEMOCRACY THROUGH FUNCTIONAL POLITICAL CULTURE IN THE NIGERIAN FOURTH REPUBLIC

This paper through the use of Almond and Verba’s Conception of Political Culture unfolds the impact of poor political culture on the Nigerian democratic culture. The paper argues that although political culture is not static but transformational, but the Nigerian Political Culture to a great extent has manifested a subject type which has snowballed into fragile political institutions and poor political attitudes on the part of electorate, the political office aspirants/candidates and office holders. This is coupled with the non-integrative nature of political participation which is threatening democratic stability in the Nigerian Fourth Republic; thus, the need to reform political behavior through reforming the party system, the structures and laws governing the acquisition and workings of political offices.