Emergent Programmatic Politics and Gradual Demise of Neopatrimonial Tendencies* in Ghana’s Electoral Democracy

Isaac Owusu Nsiah

doi:10.4236/ojps.2021.114046

Abstract

Many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa experienced regime change after the thawing of the cold war. Ghana like other countries in the sub-region, arranged for multiparty elections to displace years of authoritarian rule. After three decades of the second independence, the Africanist literature on electoral politics has generated a debate on the continuity of neopatrimonialism, weak parties and voting intentions largely based on ethnic and clientelistic tendencies. But there have been relevant works that have challenged these narratives. Relying on secondary literature, online news items, centre for democratic development (CDD) pre-election survey and some field notes, this article positions it itself within the ongoing debate by challenging the simplistic narratives how Ghana’s democracy has spurred neopatrimonialism, where parties are weak and present no credible policy positions and thus the linkage mechanism between voters and parties are predominantly ethnic and clientelistic. It argues that for about three decades after the third wave of democratization, there is an emergent programmatic politics in Ghana.

Highlights

Against a backdrop of mired economic development which significantly emanated from politics of Africa’s post-colonial state: for example, political instabilities with prevalent coups, weak political institutions, autocracy, neopatrimonial tendencies, such as the concentration of power in the “big man”, patronage, clientelistic and spoil politics (Bates, 1981; Aidoo, 2008, Chabal & Daloz, 1999; Allen, 1995), a development discourse which culminated in a consensus emerged in the late 1980s and early 1990s
After three decades of the second independence, the Africanist literature on electoral politics has generated a debate on the continuity of neopatrimonialism, weak parties and voting intentions largely based on ethnic and clientelistic tendencies
Ghana’s electoral democracy has been touted as a beacon of political excellence and a model worth emulating for other sub-Saharan countries

Summary

Introduction

Against a backdrop of mired economic development which significantly emanated from politics of Africa’s post-colonial state: for example, political instabilities with prevalent coups, weak political institutions, autocracy, neopatrimonial tendencies, such as the concentration of power in the “big man”, patronage, clientelistic and spoil politics (Bates, 1981; Aidoo, 2008, Chabal & Daloz, 1999; Allen, 1995), a development discourse which culminated in a consensus emerged in the late 1980s and early 1990s. This article critically examines whether Ghana has a consolidated programmatic politics or the political system is still a neopatrimonial one It contributes to the broader Africanist literature on electoral politics by challenging the predominant and simplistic narratives on theoretical and empirical explanations for Ghana’s ethnic and clientelistic posture in party alignment and outcomes during elections. It argues that for about three decades after the third wave of democratization, there is an emergent programmatic politics in Ghana. The final part provides a discussion with significant evidence on the programmatic nature of Ghana’s body politic as a relevant critique to the scholarly debates on how neopatrimonialism has taken shape in Ghana’s political system

Electoral Politics in Africa

Programmatic Politics: A Conceptual Framework

Ghana: Programmatic or a Neopatrimonial Politics?

Emergent Programmatic Politics

Conclusion

Background