The Logic of Neopatrimonialism and Democratic Deepening: A Case of Ghana's Fourth Republic

Abstract

Africa’s quest for effective governance in the first two decades after independence yielded in different shades of political organizations ranging from radical socialism, militarism, military and/or civil authoritarianism and one party democracy. After the collapse of Berlin Wall and the demise of communism, most African states overwhelmingly joined what Huntington called the “Third Wave” of democratization of which Ghana was no exception. Although Ghana’s decades of democratizing state institutions and its politics have yielded relatively significant electoral democratic gains, democratic rule in Ghana still faces challenges of legitimization. While some Africanist scholars admit that Ghana is a neopatrimonial state, none of these scholars has drawn a linkage between neopatrimonial logic and political legitimacy crisis in Ghana. As an exploratory research design, this paper employed in-depth interview method to investigate the nexus between neopatrimonial logic and democratic deepening in Ghana. Findings reveal that in spite of Ghana’s several attempts at democratizing its state institutions and politics, legitimacy crisis still persists. This paper thus, concluded that the disruptive potentiality of neopatrimoniallogic bears inordinate (holding all other factors constant) responsibility.