This article attempts to explain the rural–urban voting patterns
in the
1992 Ghanaian presidential election. In this election, rural voters voted
overwhelmingly for the incumbent and urban voters did the opposite.
It is argued that Ghana's Structural Adjustment Programme (1983–92)
was distributionally favourable to rural households and unfavourable
to urban households. A link is therefore drawn between the
distributional impacts of the Structural Adjustment Programme and
the voting patterns of rural and urban households.The relationship between the state of the economy and the fortunes
of political parties at the polls is one which has generated a lot of
debate. This debate has largely taken place within the confines of
Western democracies, not least because of the absence of Western-style
democracy in many developing countries. We are, however, seeing a
movement towards ‘democracy’ in many developing countries,
with
pressures for economic liberalisation going hand in glove with those for
political liberalisation. The increasing democratisation by many
African countries undertaking Structural Adjustment Programmes
provides us with an opportunity to investigate the relationships
between the welfare implications of these programmes and the voting
behaviour of the electorate. Is voting behaviour in Africa any different
from that in Western democracies?
The Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work in progress to encourage the exchange of ideas about development issues. An objective of the series is to get the findings out quickly, even if the presentations are less than fully polished. The papers carry the names of the authors and should be cited accordingly. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the authors. They do not necessarily represent the views of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/World Bank and its affiliated organizations, or those of the Executive Directors of the World Bank or the governments they represent.
Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte.Abstract: This paper analyses the evolution of fiscal and monetary variables in Ghana, from the discovery of oil in 2007 through to 2014. It documents the deterioration of fiscal and monetary discipline over this period, which resulted in a rebound of debt, a deterioration of the external balance, and a decrease in public investment. The paper goes on to analyse the potential causes of this deterioration, including the political economy context, and the fiscal and monetary institutional framework. The suggested causes include the politics of Ghana's dominant two-party system. Finally, the paper discusses what Ghana could have done differently to avoid the various damaging effects associated with the oil discovery. It does not aim to provide specific fiscal policy recommendations for Ghana, but rather to give an empirical account of Ghana's experience that may be useful for other countries that discover oil.
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