Once again an organic crisis of the state grips Nigeria. The post-military democratic order is in grave danger. The atmosphere is thick with foreboding. There is so much anger and ill-temper in the land. Insults are let loose like verbal missiles. While poverty of vision and loss of initiative permeate the entire political class, the president is behaving like an all-conquering emperor with impressive anti-democratic credentials. This is not the way to go if we want to preserve and entrench democratic rule in this unhappy clime. After General Abacha’s despotic blitz which followed the annulment of the democratic wishes of…

The rise of populist movements and street protests from Chile to France has made inequality a high priority for politicians of all stripes in the world's rich democracies. But a fundamental question has received relatively little attention: What type of inequality should policymakers tackle? Inequality looms larger on policymakers’ agenda today than it has in a long time. With the political and social backlash against the established economic order fueling the rise of populist movements and street protests from Chile to France, politicians of all stripes have made the issue an urgent priority. And whereas economists used to fret about…