Nigeria Should Adopt the Swiss Cantonal System of Government

In this entire debate my opponent, TheLDDebator, has not provided well-researched, coherent and persuasive reasons to oppose my proposal that “Nigeria Should Adopt the Swiss Cantonal System of Government”. Rather, TheLDDebator’s arguments have been: 1. Inconsistent and Contradictory. He claims or proposes that: a. Democracy doesn’t work in Africa b. Nigeria should stick with its current style of government - which is based on American-style democracy c. Africa should evolve its own style of government d. A change in style of government will result in chaos and bloodshed and, for this reason, there should be no change in government. Since it is not possible to simultaneously have all the above four scenarios my opponent’s position is inconsistent and irreconcilable. 2. Unscientific a. Without providing contrary current research or evidence TheLDDebator dismissed, as EXTREMELY outdated, research published in 1967 which concluded that, over the prior century, "In the Western world of the mid-nineteenth century, language became accepted as the most important single defining characteristic of nationality". Further, TheLDDebator stated that “The western world does not apply to Africa, much less Nigeria, thus this piece of evidence is off topic”. At a minimum, to back up his contrary claim, TheLDDebator should have outlined current research or given current examples of new countries ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD being formed where the trend is to increase the number of language groups within the new country. Instead, the trend all over the world, including in Africa, is agitation for more language-based autonomy, independence, or secession (e.g., language-based autonomous regions in Ethiopia and Kenya, Secession or agitations in: South Sudan from Sudan, Crimea from Ukraine, Catalan from Spain, Quebec from Canada, Scotland from the UK, Yugoslavia disintegration, etc.) b. He claims that Nigeria is “prospering” by strictly quoting its GDP growth and dismisses documented evidence which shows that poverty is increasing in Nigeria despite its GDP growth. c. TheLDDebator cites liberally several African countries that are failing or have political instability, including Nigeria. Yet, he concludes that the reason for the failure of these African states is that “Democracy doesn’t work in Africa”. A more inquisitive look at causality and history shows that African societies had kingdoms and empires much like the rest of the world before the advent of colonialism. These kingdoms and empires also invaded each other much like those of Western Europe. Today, one can still find language-based tribes and clans all over Africa.Is it plausible then that, without the intrusion of colonialism, these African countries might have morphed into similar linguistically-homogeneous states as France, Germany, Japan, etc.? Is it also plausible then that the types of democracy exported from the US and Europe would have worked for the African countries that would have emerged without the intrusion of colonialism? I say “yes” to both questions. However, colonizers pushed together different peoples with different languages and customs to form various African countries and, when granted independence, these African countries copied the democratic systems more suited for linguistically-homogeneous countries to govern their multi-ethnic and multi-religious states. Does TheLDDebator deny this narrative? Could this plausibly be the reason why democracy appears not to be working in Africa, rather than TheLDDebator dubious claim that democracy doesn't work in Africa as though there is something about the African that doesn't like democracy (http://upress.kent.edu...)? The US-style and various European styles of democracy simply aren't designed to work for multi-lingual and multi-religious states; that much is evident from the Belgian (a multi-lingual European country) experience today, and from the Swiss experience before it evolved its cantonal model. 3. Disingenuous. a. I don’t understand why TheLDDebator deliberately misquoted me that I consistently claimed that “…the Swiss model is the best model in the world”, and then goes on to make a categorical statement against it by stating “The Swiss Government isn't the best in the world”, as though I ever made that statement. All my quotes with regards to the Swiss model being the best are as follows and I took great pains to qualify each with “multi-lingual and multi-religious” societies in all my discussions: “Switzerland is also a multi-lingual and multi-religious society and the best example of such society that is stable and progressive”. “My overall impression from my opponent's arguments is that he/she did not fully grasp and understand the basic structure and functioning of the Cantonal System as laid out in my opening remarks and which makes it a fairly resilient system that is also best suited for multi-lingual and multi-religious societies”. “The Swiss model is best for multi-lingual and multi-religious societies”. “Of all systems of governments known to man, the best that has been successfully practiced (leading to political stability, good public welfare, freedom of expression, protection of individual and property rights, lack of internal strife and human right abuses, etc.) in a multi-lingual and multi-religious society is the Swiss model”. If TheLDDebator wishes to honestly counter my true claims about the Swiss model all he needed to do was to cite one example of a multi-religious and multi-lingual country (i.e., not linguistically-homogeneous or have no dominant language group as I described in my opening debate post) that practices a different form of government than the Swiss and is more successful than Switzerland with regards to all measures of freedom, economic progress and political stability, or that is in fact in the list of top 10 “most developed” countries. This empirical evidence alone makes the Swiss model worth a serious look by multi-lingual and multi-religious societies that wish to progress with regards to freedom, economy and political stability! I believe that TheLDDebator means well for Nigeria. Unfortunately, meaning well and doing well are two different things. Rather than openly weighing the evidence presented, TheLDDebator has doubled-down on his flawed position, perhaps for the sake of not losing this debate. TheLDDebator’s thinking is short-term as, given Nigeria’s multi-lingual and multi-religious make up, history does not present an example of a similar nation that is successful practicing Nigeria’s current American-style form of democracy or government. The anthropological evidence is proving, all over the world, what Western Europe already discovered and respected during the 19th century; basically, language is the most important single defining characteristic of nationality. Empirically, countries that are linguistically-homogeneous or have a dominant language group are more stable, more governable and more progressive; to approach the performance of such countries, countries with multi-lingual and multi-religious peoples should look to the Swiss model which grants local autonomy to language/religious groups within the same country. The evidence is compelling. Finally, I urge everyone to support Nigeria’s progress and vote to support the motion: “Nigeria Should Adopt the Swiss Cantonal System of Government”. Once we win this debate we can then open another debate to discuss “How Nigeria May Adopt the Swiss Cantonal System of Government”. Thanks!