AMERICAN PRAGMATISM VERSUS DEMOCRACY AND DEMOCRATIZATION IN AFRICA

Abstract

Driven by the life experience of competition for survival, three American scholars- Peirce, James, and Dewey- sought a theory that could best explain that natural instinct in man i.e. the instinct of self-preservation. They argued that, faced with the alternatives of idealism and practicalism, man in his bid to survive, would naturally opt for the latter. They baptized this natural tendency “pragmatism”. This philosophy has influenced American foreign policy and relationship with the rest of the world. It has virtually blurred all “moralisms” including those affecting the democratization process in Africa. Even when crass materialism has compelled America to prefer pragmatism to democratization in the continent, it is suggested that Nigeria should be guided, in its relations with sister African countries, not entirely by the unbridled philosophy of pragmatism.