Nigeria, Jan. 27 -- In her book, Love Does Not Win Elections, Aisha Osori, a woman who attempted to run for a seat in the House of Representatives, makes a simple argument about Nigerian politics that unsettles polite assumptions. Politics, she shows, does not reward goodwill. It does not yield to competence alone. It is not softened by moral authority or civic virtue. It is a hard system, driven by structures, incentives, gatekeepers, and rules that determine who gets in long before a ballot is cast.

Women, Osori argues, are not excluded because they lack ambition or capacity. They are excluded because the system is designed to keep them out. Women are encouraged to "participate", but are locked out of party structures. Women are praise...