The Economy and Regime Change in Ghana, 1992-2004

Abstract

The article examines the link between economic conditions and policies, on one hand, and regime changes, on the other. Ghana’s politics, since inde-pendence has been shaped by events on the economic front more than the popularized issues of ethnicity, regionalism and personal ambitions. Most of the political transitions were to a large extent influenced by economic cir-cumstances. The early military coups that destabilized the democratic order appeared to have resulted from the unhappiness of army officers over rising economic distress even though ideological and ambition factors were also important determinants. Even the ‘third wave’ of democratization took place within the context of economic crisis. The failure of the PNDC regime to bring about early economic recovery engendered popular disillusionment and heightened the agitations for the return to democratic rule. Post-democratization politics mimics the pattern of economic influence over re-gime changes. The historic power alternation in 2000 happened against the backdrop of poor economic performance by the NDC government. Macroe-conomic instability including deteriorating living standards of the people was blamed on the incumbent’s economic mismanagement. Consequently, majority of Ghanaian voters effected a change of government hoping that the new government would bring about improved economic and living conditions