CSPS Seminar on "An Anatomy of an African Election"

This presentation on democracy and development focuses on elections in Africa. I begin the discussion with a synopsis of democratic rule in Africa and Ghana’s experience from independence to military rule and eventually to democratic rule in 1992, and the aftermath. Elections in Ghana are premised on messages of social and economic development aimed at improving the lives of citizens. The resultant economic development outcomes, therefore, speak more to manifesto promises than to strategic objectives. The outcomes of electoral choices over the last 3 decades, despite the result of the 2024 elections, indicate that stable democracy does not equate stable economic development. Yet there is a lot of hope for building a stronger democracy, and the potential to improve the lives of the Ghanaian people through electoral choices.