Ghana is seven months away from another crucial election. As usual candidates are sharing their vision and ideas with voters. They are making promises and taking jabs at each other. All this makes for an exciting election season. As has been the case, the election is really a contest between the National Democratic Congress (NDC) […]
Election 2024: Who Will Make A Pledge To Ghana’s Democracy? Read More »
During her speech last week, Prof. Naana Jane Opoku Agyeman, NDC running mate for the 2024 election said this “I will share in our collective successes and, share responsibility for our setbacks if any. And, at the time of reckoning, HE John Dramani Mahama, I will not, in the advancement of self-serving ambition, declare to the
Election 2024: The Vice-President’s Dilemma Read More »
The Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Research Project, which is headquartered at the V-Dem Institute, Department of Political Science, University of Gothenburg, Sweden produces the V-Dem database. The comprehensive database captures the state of democracy in countries around the world. The depth and breadth of the database makes it one of the richest sources of information
West Africa’s Democracy – More Worrying Signs Read More »
Freedom House’s Freedom In The World Report 2024 is now available. For countries covered in the report, each receives a) an overall score and classification as Not Free, Partially Free, or Completely Free; b) a score in two main categories – political rights and civil liberties; and c) scores in seven subcategories- electoral process, political pluralism and participation, functioning of government, freedom of
Freedom In West Africa Read More »
In 2020, Center for the Future of Democracy, published a research report titled “Youth, and the future of democracy.” The report observed among many things, the following – a) a decline in satisfaction with democracy among the youth, mentioning sub-Saharan Africa as one of four regions experiencing notable declines; b) economics explains the discontent; and
Has Democracy Been Good for The Youth? Read More »
In his State of The Nation Address, President Akufo-Addo made this statement – “In spite of all its shortcomings and difficulties, the people of Ghana have shown admirable commitment to multi-party democracy and have not fallen for the instigations to resort to the violent overthrow of an elected government. The past thirty-two (32) years of
This Year’s Independence Day Theme Read More »
In 2006, Michael Ross, a political scientist, wrote a thought-provoking article titled “Is Democracy Good for the Poor?” Among many things in that article, he said this “democracy unquestionably produces noneconomic benefits for people in poverty, endowing them with political rights and liberties. But for those in the bottom quintiles, these political rights produced few
Has Democracy Been Good For The Poor? Read More »
High Support for Elections, Low Confidence in Election Outcomes One of the fundamental features of electoral democracies is the right to vote. Every citizen as per the rules specified in the constitution gets to vote. Democracies hold regular competitive elections that allow citizens to exercise this right. The right, although constitutionally guaranteed, does not necessarily
Beyond The Ballot Box – A Look At Our Self-Described Civic Habits Read More »
