Odeyemi, T.I. orcid.org/0000-0003-0471-3617 and Ajibola, B.S. (Cover date: December 2023) What Factors Drive Legislators’ Response to Crises? Evaluating Actions and Behaviour under a Violent Protest Climate in Nigeria. Taiwan Journal of Democracy, 19 (2). pp. 101-124. ISSN 1815-7238
Abstract
What are the factors that drive how legislative actors respond and manage protests during social movements? Protests are taken as a feature of democratic expression. However, when they escalate into extreme violence, threatening lives and property, they also impact on how legislators as key governance actors channel the direction of their choices. Among many theoretical explanations, we single out the rational choice theory (RCT) as an analytical framework to assess Nigeria’s 2020 #EndSARS protests. This is because of the RCT’s explanatory focus on how macro-societal, meso-institutional and micro-individual level factors shape actors’ preferences, limiting decision making options. During #EndSARS, legislators and legislative symbols were targeted by peaceful and violent protesters alike, and we draw on this to analyse the extent to which the RCT provides explanations for legislative behaviour and the rationality of legislative choices on the one hand, and how the actions demonstrate legislative preferences in responses to protesters, on the other hand. Drawing on secondary data sources complemented with interviews with legislators, we argue instead that the explanations to variations and similarities in the behaviour of legislators during violent protests are largely domiciled at an adjusted meso-level of action where new stakeholders, interests and complex decision-making problems. This, in turn, limits alternatives, patronage and the wider engagement that should inform legislative interventions. To navigate this, legislators adopt a collective than individualised approach to engaging with protest stakeholders.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
---|---|
Authors/Creators: |
|
Keywords: | #EndSARS, legislature, protests, rational choice theory, Nigeria |
Dates: |
|
Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Education, Social Sciences and Law (Leeds) > School of Politics & International Studies (POLIS) (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 10 Jan 2024 14:02 |
Last Modified: | 10 Jan 2024 14:15 |
Published Version: | https://www.tfd.org.tw/en/publication/journal |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Taiwan Foundation for Democracy |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:206940 |