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.
Author(s): Kwame A. Ninsin; Cyril K. Daddieh; George M. Bob-Milliar; Maame Adwoa A. Gyekye-Jandoh; Ziblim Iddi; Joseph R. A. Ayee; Kwabena Asomanin Anaman; Maxwell Owusu; Kofi Quashigah
Publisher: CODESRIA (Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa)
Year: 2016
Language: English
Pages: 232
City: Dakar
List of Tables, Figures and Boxes
Contributors
Preface and Acknowledgments
Introduction: Understanding Ghana’s Electoral Politics
1 - In Search of ‘Honorable’ Membership: Parliamentary Primaries and Candidate Selection in Ghana
2 - Civic Election Observation and General Elections in Ghana under the Fourth Republic: Enhancing Government Legitimacy and the Democratization Process
3 - The Regional Balance of Presidential Tickets in Ghanaian Elections: Analysis of the 2008 General Elections
4 - Manifestos and Agenda Setting and Elections in Ghanaian Elections
5 - Elections and Representation in Ghana’s Democracy
6 - Impact of Democratic Political Transition on the Economy of Ghana
7 - Political Transitions, Electoral Mobilization, and State Institutions
8 - Democracy without Development: The Perils of Plutocracy in Ghana
9 - Ghana’s 2008 Elections, the Constitution and the Unexpected: Lessons for the Future
10 - Index
