The Pure Theory of Law and the Fragile New Democracies of the Developing World

Political and socio‐economic distress invariably accompanies democratic orders in Nigeria. Usually, the people turn to the military, justifying this by reference to a whimsically transferable peoples’ will as Grundnorm (a basic norm, order or rule that forms an underlying basis for the legal system). However, though ‘We the People’ is contained in the Preamble, it is dangerous to so situate the Grundnorm in the will of the people other than that will expressed by them in the Constitution. That said, the Grundnorm is still, for juristic and jurisprudential reasons, to be found in the Preamble.

For new democracies, the Nigerian example illustrates how not to employ the Grundnorm theory if democracy is to survive.