Department of Political Science

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    ‘Judicialization of corruption’ in Ghana: an analysis of how Ghanaians view the Office of the Special Prosecutor
    (Politikon, 2023) Owusu-Mensah, I.; Mathapoly-Codjoe, E.
    Anti-corruption agencies in Ghana have failed over the years to deal with corruption and also take decisive steps in tackling the menace. For this reason, inter alia, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government in 2018 established the Office of the Special Prosecutor as an institutional response to deal assertively with the issue of corruption. This action expanded the scope and discourse on the fight against corruption in Ghana. Following from this, the paper conceptualised the new institutional endeavour to control corruption in Ghana, simply as the ‘judicialization of corruption’. By judicializing corruption, the paper meant to portray a phenomenon where there is the use of judiciary and judicial processes in fighting corruption. Coming on the back of a political campaign promise, the paper seemly tested Ghanaian voters’ view on this new anti-corruption arrangement by the government and puts forward a broad-spectrum of views by voters regarding the creation of the OSP. The paper used mixed method to triangulate both qualitative and quantitative data. The result showed majority of voters backing government’s idea to create the OSP albeit a sizeable number perceiving the OSP as a mere conduit to ‘witch-hunt’ erstwhile government officials.
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    Decoding the persistence of galamsey in Ghana: The meta-contradictions of neutered law
    (HSI Journal, 2024) Kuditchar, N-L.
    Background: There is a lack of consensus on the appropriate regime for socio-political regulations regarding galamsey. In this context, people with unrestrained pecuniary ambitions defy or evade laws enacted to curb galamsey, thereby rendering them neutered even when violently enforced. Objectives: This study aimed to demonstrate that the failure of the Government of Ghana to curtail galamsey is due to the clash of ethnic group customs and national laws, thereby generating a meta-contradiction of governance principles in galamsey enclaves. Methods: The study was framed by the notion of the contact zone, namely the coexistence of different principles of socio-political regulation. Areas with galamsey are unstable contact zones of anomie, and those without them are stable synonymic contact zones. The study was qualitative ethnographic research based on primary data generated from individual interviews and focused group discussions with respondents recruited through a chain-link strategy in the communities of Akyem Asunafo and Akyem Kwabeng in the Eastern Region of Ghana. Results: Akyem Kwabeng demonstrated the trait of an unstable anomic contact zone with its relatively weak customary norms. It was a galamsey enclave with a destroyed ecology. This study also used secondary information on Tanchara in the Upper West Region. Akyem Asunafo is found to be a stable synonymic contact zone, upholds traditional principles of governance, has no galamsey, and its ecology is pristine. Conversely, Tanchara, an unstable contact zone, used its customary norms to stem galamsey and protect its environment. Conclusions: It will be prudent for the GoG to acknowledge the superior eco-regulatory capacity of chiefs and norms of traditional eco governance and facilitate the conclusion of Green Social Contracts (GSCs) rooted in customary principles of ecological governance in galamsey enclaves.
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    Big Men, Small Boys; A Power Dimension Perspective of Farmers-Herdsmen Conflict in Ghana
    (Journal of Peacebuilding & Development, 2022) Kyei-Poakwah, K.; Owusu-Mensah, I.; Adu, E.P.; Ateng, M.A.
    The Peace Council of Ghana ranks farmer–herder conflicts among the country’s three most significant threats to peace (Parker-Wilson, 2021). In In Ghana, herders are widely referred to as “Fulani,” making the term synonymous with cattle rearing. Initially, the term referred to a predominantly nomad group called the Peul or the Fulbe. These nomads were typically based in pockets of settlements from Lake Chad to the east of the Atlantic Coast. In the early 20th century, British colonialists sought to establish a vibrant cattle industry in Ghana to counter the French monopoly over meat exports to Europe. Since most Ghanaians at the time were engaged in farming or mining, the British outsourced the establishment of the large-scale cattle business to foreigners known as the Fulani. Tonah (2006) suggested that this thriving cattle business attracted other Fulanis to Ghana in the early 20th century.
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    For Better for Worse Even After Death: Is ‘Widow Politics’ in Ghana’s Fourth Republic Becoming a Reliable Pathway for Women?
    (Journal of Asian and African Studies, 2022) Boakye, B.A.P.; Yeboah-Assiamah, E.; Gyekye-Jandoh, M.A.
    The quest to bridge the gender disparity in the politics of Ghana has seen little progress owing to the challenges associated with the passage of the Affirmative Action bill by the actors involved. However, the recent emergence and unconventional adoption of ‘widow succession’ politics in Ghana have sparked some public debates into the viability of the practice in the promotion of women in politics. This paper examines all five identified cases of widow politics in Ghana between 2000 and 2020 (Asutifi South, Shai Osudoku, Ayawaso West Wuogon, Mfantseman and Tempane constituencies) and draws on the widow effect and affirmative action concepts to propose lessons and the possible implication of the practice in Ghana.
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    Parliamentary Primaries After Democratic Transitions: Explaining Reforms To Candidate Selection In Ghana
    (African Affairs, 2022) Dodsworth, S.; Alidu, S.M.; Bauer, G.; Bukari, G.A.
    Candidate selection procedures play a crucial role in shaping parliaments and influencing the quality of democracy. Yet, our understanding of what motivates parties to reform candidate selection mechanisms at specific points in time is limited. To address this gap, we examine the experience of Ghana’s National Democratic Congress (NDC), which reformed its selection procedures in 2015, allowing all party members to vote in primary elections for parliamentary candidates. We ask what triggered these reforms and identify four motivations—the confluence of which explains why the reforms were adopted in 2015. These motivations were: making the party more democratic by expanding participation and reducing the cost of the primary process, building the party’s organizational capacity, and keeping up with the party’s main competitor. Together, these led NDC leaders to believe that reforms would benefit the party. However, a divergence between actual and intended effects meant some of these benefits were not realized, so the NDC reversed its reforms. This case suggests that the current shift towards more inclusive candidate selection mechanisms across parts of Africa will not be linear. party leaders will adopt such reforms when they believe it is in their party’s interest.
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    The Failure to Learn Lessons from Policy Failures in Developing Countries? The Case of Electricity Privatization in Ghana
    (International Journal of Public Administration, 2021) Ohemeng, F.L.K.; Zaato, J.J.
    Do policy makers learn from their failures? The rational and normal expectation would be that they do, but experience shows otherwise. Notwithstanding the valuable and multiply expected learning opportunities presented by such failures, especially in Africa, policy errors continue unabated in both the developed and developing worlds. Even the high-profile nature of the failures across the continent seems insufficient to convince African policy makers of their significance. Focusing on the In the recent electricity privatization fiasco in Ghana, this paper examines factors that impede or otherwise affect policy makers’ ability to learn from their mistakes. Using interviews with a number of officials involved in the process of electricity privatization, we identified five main factors that continue to affect policy learning from policy failures in Ghana
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    The “illusion” of administrative sovereignty in developing countries: A historical institutionalism perspective on administrative sovereignty in Ghana
    (Administrative Theory & Praxis, 2022) Ohemeng, F.L.K; Foli, R.K.
    The emergence of transnational administrations and their influence on domestic affairs of countries have led to the questioning of the notion of administrative sovereignty. Yet, the question of whether countries have this sovereignty and how it should be understood is to be fully resolved and the debate continues unabated. In this In this paper, we contribute to this debate by focusing on whether countries from the developing south are and can be administratively sovereign and to what extent can be considered as such. Have Have developing countries ever been administratively sovereign? To what To what extent are these states administratively sovereign, if any? In short, how free are the authorities in these countries to organize their own administrative apparatuses in policy development and service delivery? What can historical institutionalism teach us about the issue of administrative sovereignty? Following the continuum in the understanding of administrative sovereignty and using a desk review and organizing the evidence through historical institutionalism as a concept, the Ghanaian case shows limited administrative sovereignty
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    Actors, bricolage, and translation in education policy: a case study from Ghana
    (Journal of Modern African Studies, 2022) Boakye, P.A.; Beland, D.
    Due to the centrality of education to economic growth and social development, successful governments in post-colonial Ghana have implemented policies to improve the quality of education in the country. In line with this, Ghana embarked on its first major education reform under the Provisional National Defense Council (PNDC) government. While several studies have been conducted to explain this, reform, these studies have largely been descriptive and theoretically have over relied on the conditionality thesis. Our study draws on ideational literature and research interviews to offer an alternative explanation of the reform. Drawing extensively on the ideational concepts of bricolage and translation, focusing on the actors using these two mechanisms, the study argues that, while exogenous forces did impact the reform, but they were mainly driven by endogenous factors featuring both path-dependent and departure-dependent changes.
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    Ghana’s 2020 General Elections: An Assessment of the Journey and Processes
    (The African Review, 2022) Gyampo, R.E.V.; Graham, E.
    The December 7, 2020 General Election was the 8th milestone in Ghana’s electoral politics. It was keenly competitive for several reasons, including the fact that the two key contenders had a sense of unfinished agenda and wanted to capture or hold on to power to complete what had been initiated. The flag bearer of the main opposition party was voted out after one term in power, in a manner that challenged the creeping belief that all regimes in Ghana, since 1992, have served two terms in office. Whereas the ruling party did all it could to maintain the two-term tradition, the main opposition party also did its best to drum home the message that the two-term tradition is not yet institutionalized. It was also widely believed that a defeat of any of the two main contenders may mark the end of their respective political careers, as the two main political parties would file completely new candidates in future elections. This paper seeks to examine the journey and processes towards the 2020 General Elections within the context of the global pandemic, COVID-19. The paper highlights and fleshes out all the major issues before and during the elections and offers possible explanations on the outcome of the elections.
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    “Provide Our Basic Needs Or We Go Out”: The COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown, Inequality, And Social Policy In Ghana
    (Policy and Society, 2022) Foli, R.K.; Ohemeng, F.L.K.
    The effects of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic cut across every facet of a nation’s life. The near collapse of economies with the attendant job losses has brought forth the need for effective social policies, particularly in developing countries, that can serve citizens in dire need. Consequently, many of these countries have had to craft emergency social policies to help their citizens. Ghana has no exception. While measures to control the spread of the pandemic, such as lockdowns and restrictions movement and gathering were timely, they negatively impacted the poor, most of whom work in the informal sector and depend on daily survival activities such as buying and selling basic goods. As As a result, some of the measures were ignored, as people feared they would die from hunger rather than from the pandemic. Thus, governmental response to the pandemic was highlighted by policy layering and exposed the fragile social support systems in existence. The challenges of responding adequately to the pandemic underscore the importance of a transformative social welfare regime in ensuring the protection of citizens. This paper, based on desk research, explores the limitations of the existing social policy framework, which became manifest during the implementation of Ghana’s pandemic policies. Policy layering by government continues to weaken Ghana’s social welfare system, and this affected the official response with respect to the social issues that have emerged due to the pandemic