The Politics of Ethnocentrism: A Viability Test of Ghana’s Democracy?

Abstract

The article assesses the use of ethnocentrism as a political strategy in Ghana's electoral politics and the threat it poses to Ghana's democracy. It focuses on the strategic ethno-political communication employed by politicians to wield voter support and how voters behave at polls. It reveals that prior to independence Ghana's political parties were predominantly formed along ethnic and regional dimensions. This transcends into the current dispensation, as the National Democratic Congress and the New Patriotic Party are tagged as Ewe-Northerners party and Akans party, respectively. These ethnic affiliations tend to influence voters' behaviour at the polls. There is, therefore, an increasing incidence of non-evaluative voting because of ethnocentrism in the Ghanaian political domain. As a result, politicking in Ghana tends to rely heavily on ethnic dimensions to solicit votes using the media as the main platform. The incidence of ethno-politics in Ghana has the tendency to reverse the democratic successes chalked because of the unnecessary tensions that are often associated with ethnic politics. This article recommends the need for responsible media practice to minimise this rising phenomenon in Ghana's electoral politics. Also, it is our suggestion that the Political Parties ACT 574(2000) and the concerned articles of the 1992 constitution be reviewed to place sanctions on ethnocentrism as a political strategy.

The Return of Ethnocentrism

“…We agree with Kinder and Kam (2009) that ethnocentrism is a fundamental and important concept, which requires more attention from political psychologists. Over the recent years, we see an increasing number of papers using the term “ethnocentrism” as an important concept in political psychology (e.g., see Banks, 2016; Faanu & Graham, 2017; Kam & Kinder, 2012; Pérez, 2015; Sirin, Valentino, & Villalobos, 2017; Valentino, Brader, & Jardina, 2013; Valentino, Wayne, & Oceno, 2018). Nonetheless, the concept is still not as popular it should be given its grasp over the human mind.…”