Democracy, Governance, and Development in Ghana, 1993 - 2008

For the past two decades, Ghana has been undergoing democratic transformation – a kind which is restoring her earlier immediate post independence promise. This study, from a historical institutionalist perspective, examines the quality of this recent democratic transformation which has been observed in Ghana in the period between 1993 and 2008. The study sought answers to the following questions: have consolidating multi-party democracy answered Ghana’s search for governance that enables the state to foster development? What are the continuing challenges to governance and development in Ghana? And lastly, is Ghana an emerging democratic developmental state in the African sub-region? The study finds that, in spite of the notable challenging deficits in her democratic development: Ghana has made encouraging, considerable progress in democratization. This progress the study finds engendered a governance framework which enabled the state to make encouraging progress in fostering economic and social development. Thus, in the considered view of this study, Ghana is seriously growing as a model democratic developmental state in the African sub- region.