THE POLITICAL IMPLICATIONS OF CHINUA ACHEBE’S THINGS FALL APART VIS-À VIS MICHAEL WALZER’S POLITICAL ORIENTATIONS
Abstract
From time immemorial the world has long experimented with and practiced various forms of governmental systems. In Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart a glaring political system, namely ‘consensus democracy’ stands out. But there are other political features around which consensus democracy would have been developed. Such socio- political features include Communitarianism, Umunna politics and the politics of Ohacracy/Ohakrasi, through egalitarian and equalitarian principles. The Western philosopher, Michael Walzer, may have had as his background for writing the socio-political systems of communitarianism, some ideas of colonialism and imperialism, autocracy and plutocracy, oligarchy and totalitarianism. This comparative study focused primarily on the common political system emphasized by both Achebe and Walzer. They have this preference for democracy, and some stark reasons for the rejection of anti-democratic forms of government, weaved through their basic presuppositions.
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