« This is a ground-breaking, nuanced and comprehensive book that grapples with how developing countries in general and Ghana in particular have endured and responded to a decade of neo-liberal ascendancy. Based on astute research, experiences and analysis, the book offers penetrating commentaries on recent socio-economic and political developments in Ghana. A « must-read » collection of excellent and stimulating ideas. » Mohamed Salih, Professor of Politics of Development, University of Leiden and the Institute of Social Studies, The Netherlands « This, the first book-length assessment of the latest experiment in liberal democracy in Ghana, is a timely study. It shows in an admirable way both the progress and the still existing shortcomings in the institutionalization of liberal democracy and will undoubtedly attract a wide readership in academic and policy-making circles. » Ghana has witnessed a « revolution through the ballot box » since its return to constitutional rule in 1993. Yet this period of sustained democratic government in an era of globalization and liberal triumphalism has brought with it new demands. How has Ghana faced up to the problems of institution-building, state-market relations and democratic leadership? Can it deal with the challenges posed by security, human rights and foreign policy in the twenty-first century? This unique collection interrogates all these issues and assesses the future of the democratic experiment in one of sub-Saharan Africa's rare « islands of peace ». In doing so, it provides an invaluable guide to Ghana's political past, present and future.
Kwame Boafo-Arthur
ISBN : 2-86978-199-3
CODESRIA 2007
Ghana attained independence in 1957. From 1992, when a new constitution came into force and established a new – democratic – framework for governing the country, elections have been organized every four years to choose the governing elites. The essays in this volume are about those elections because elections give meaning to the role of citizens in democratic governance. The chapters depart from the study of formal structures by which the electorate choose their representatives. They evaluate the institutional forms that representation take in the Ghanaian context, and study elections outside the specific institutional forms that according to democratic theory are necessary for arriving at the nature of the relationships that are formed between the voters and their representatives and the nature and quality of their contribution to the democratic process.
KWAME AKON NINSIN, Emeritus Professor of Political Science, University of Ghana; holds a BA (Combined Honours) degree in Political Science and History from the University of Ghana (1969), and PhD (Political Science) from Boston University (1977). Prof. Ninsin was Head/Chair, Department of Political Science, University of Ghana, (for 3 terms from the 1980s to 1995). He was a visiting scholar at several universities in the US and UK, and has authored several works on Ghanaian and African politics. He served as a member of Ghana's Consultative Assembly (1991-1992). He received several academic awards including Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship for "Reflections on Development" (1987), Fulbright-Hays Scholar (1971- 76) for the PhD in the USA; and the honour of the Kwame Akon Ninsin Library, Department of Political Science, Legon.
ISBN : 978 2 86978 694 3
CODESRIA 2016