Afrika seminar: Konsolidering af Ghanas demokrati – valg i 2012

TIME: Thursday, 4 October, 15.15 – 17.00

VENUE: Aud. 12, Centre of African Studies, Købmagergade 44, 4th floor, 1150 Copenhagen K.

The seminar will be held by Georg Bob-Millar, Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana.

TIME: Thursday, 4 October, 15.15 – 17.00

VENUE: Aud. 12, Centre of African Studies, Købmagergade 44, 4th floor, 1150 Copenhagen K.

The seminar will be held by Georg Bob-Millar, Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana.

On 7 December 2012, the Ghanaian electorate will vote to elect a new president and members of parliament. The election is seen by many observers as the most important test of Ghana’s maturing multi‐party democracy.

What factors will determine the outcome of the elections? How will the election further establish Ghana as one of the most secured and reliable democracies in Africa?

Findings demonstrate that, while celebrating the uniqueness of Ghana in the context of African electoral politics, the country is not entirely immune from the African electoral disease – choosing violence over peace.

The many pockets of political violence, growing ethnocentrism, and weak state capacity which are most evident during elections are a potential time bomb that exposes not only the character but also the incapacities of the Ghanaian state.

The challenge in December will not only be which party wins the elections, but also in managing the post‐elections challenges.

George M. Bob‐Milliar is a Ghanaian academic based at the Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana, and currently guest researcher at the Danish Institute for International Development.

His work focuses on democratization in Africa, informal economies, African Diaspora, chieftaincy, and Ghanaian migration patterns. His articles have appeared in leading journals including African Affairs, African Review of Economics & Finance, Africa, Urban Anthropology, Democratization, Journal of Asian and African Studies and the Journal of Modern African Studies.

He has received prizes both for his published work (the prestigious African Author Prize for the best article published in African Affairs by an author based in an African institution, 2009), and for his contribution to research on African policy issues (from the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI)/Africa Initiative Graduate Research Grant).

Discussant: Dr. Karen Lauterbach, Assistant Professor, CAS