Plato on Political Stability: Some Lessons for Nigeria

Abstract

The Greek world during the time of Plato was characterized by political challenges and pronounced social injustices. There were turmoil and party conflicts. Plato saw Greece of his time as a place that was very difficult to govern properly because of opposition from those who were bent on putting their own interest above that of the state. Plato saw most of the politicians of his time as selfish. There was violence and party struggles and the eventual defeat of Athens by Sparta and other members of the Peloponnesian Confederacy in 404 BC; a defeat which Plato attributed to maladministration by the rulers. In order to change the undesirable trend of event for better, Plato came up with a series of ideas. The scenario that characterized the Greek world in which Plato lived is to a very large extent similar to the happenings in twenty first century Nigeria. This paper therefore examines the theory postulated by Plato as the panacea to the crisis in Greece of his time and draw out areas that are relevant as solutions to the socio-political challenges facing Nigeria in the twenty first century. The paper adopts a blend of Critical Theory, Historiography and Philosophical analysis as its research methodology and concludes among other things with a clarion call to address headlong the obvious leadership challenges that have been the cog in the wheel of the Nigeria’s progress for years.