Accounting for Change in Diverse Societies

Managing Diversity and Political Inclusion: The Case of Ghana


Publication Date: February 2021

Emmanuel Gyimah-Boadi

Emmanuel Gyimah-Boadi is co-founder, board chair and interim CEO of the Afrobarometer — a pan-African, survey research network that provides reliable data on African experiences and evaluations of democracy, governance, and quality of life. He is also co-founder and former executive director of the Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), a leading independent democracy and good governance think tank.

Mohammed Awal

Mohammed Awal is a Senior Research Analyst and Team Leader for Social Accountability and SDGs programming and advocacy at the Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana). His research is concerned primarily with the political economy of development, with a focus on understanding the impact of citizen political participation on government accountability, and social welfare provision in new democracies with a regional focus on Sub-Saharan Africa.

Intra-group tensions over political influence and entrenched socioeconomic inequalities are challenges that Ghana shares with many of its neighbours. However, despite these challenges, and unlike its neighbours, Ghana has experienced relatively low levels of violence since gaining independence in the 1960s and has become a bastion of democratic good governance in West Africa.

What accounts for Ghana’s success in building an inclusive society? What challenges remain for Ghana on the path to pluralism?