Local State Institutional Reforms in Ghana

Dr. Matthew Sabbi

doi:10.5771/9783845281414

Summary

This study examines local institutional reforms frequently conceived as a panacea for accountable and responsive local institutions that engender change and prosperity in Ghana. Currently, this assumption is often made without recourse to how policymakers pursue these institutional changes in everyday situations. While the link between local democracy and poverty reduction remains largely rhetorical, it still persists because no clear distinction is made between local political reforms, local autonomy and local socio-economic change. Using an actor-centered institutional framework, this study offers critical insights into how local policymakers take advantage of institutional reforms to advance their own interests at the expense of specific local priorities and socio-economic change.

Matthew Sabbi is a Fritz Thyssen Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow at the Chair of Development Sociology, University of Bayreuth, Germany. His research focuses on the analysis of local political reforms and local public policy in the Global South particularly in Ghana.

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Bibliographic data

Publication year: 2017
Publication date: 08.06.2017
ISBN-Print: 978-3-8487-3801-4
ISBN-Online: 978-3-8452-8141-4
Publisher: Nomos, Baden-Baden
Series: Politik und Gesellschaft in Afrika | Politics and Societies in Africa
Volume: 3
Language: English
Pages: 336
Product type: Book Titles

Titelei/Inhaltsverzeichnis No access Pages 1 - 16
1. Institution-Building in the International Development System No access
2. The Context and Problem: Local State Institutional Reforms in Ghana No access
3. Propositions in the Study No access
4. Objective of the Study No access
5. Research Questions No access
6. Rationale: Why Study Local State Institution- Building in Ghana? No access
7. Delimitations of the Study No access
8. Organization of the Sections of the Study No access
9. Concluding Remarks No access
1. 1. The agency-structure question No access
  2. Defining institutions and organizations No access
2. 1. Neo-institutionalism and the diffusion of change ideas No access
  2. Entrepreneurs and institutional ideas No access
  3. Research in neo-institutional analysis of change No access
  4. Critique of the neo-institutional approach No access
3. 1. Actor-centered institutionalism and local political reforms No access
  2. Synthesizing the sociological and actor-centered institutionalisms No access
4. 1. Constructed legitimacy within institutional reform programmes No access
  2. Legitimacy rhetoric and institution-building enticements No access
  3. Levels of analysis in the framework No access
5. Concluding Remarks No access
1. Framing the Basis of Knowledge in the Study No access
2. The Multi-Methods Design for the Study No access
3. 1. Study organizations and unit of analysis No access
  2. Sources of evidence No access
4. 1. The sample and selection strategy No access
  2. Number of study actors and their statuses No access
5. 1. The case study strand No access
  2. The existing institutional data strand No access
  3. The research internship No access
6. Processing and Analysis of Data No access
7. 1. Representativeness of study actors’ views No access
  2. Character of the field and methods used No access
  3. Researcher’s position in the field No access
  4. Taking sides and empathy No access
8. Concluding Remarks No access
1. The Study Regions: Why not Other Locations? No access
2. The North-South Divide in Ghana: Excursus on the Genesis No access
3. Ashanti Region and the Local Self-Government in Kumasi No access
4. The Upper West Region and the Local Self-Government in Wa No access
5. ‘Contested’ Departments of the Local State No access
6. Central State Structures for Local State Administration No access
7. Concluding Remarks No access
1. 1. Perceived benefits from decentralized political institutions No access
  2. Shortcomings of local institutional reforms and change No access
2. 1. The concept of participation revisited No access
  2. Participatory development and good governance (de-) linkage No access
3. 1. Proto-local state in the pre-colonial era No access
  2. The local state in the pre- and post-independence eras No access
  3. Ghanaian public servants and their attitude to public work No access
  4. Local institutional reforms and nomenclature of the current local state No access
  5. The District Assembly: composition and actors No access
  6. Development functions of the District Assembly No access
  7. Local state institution-building and participatory development No access
4. Concluding Remarks No access
1. 1. Local political actors and legislative competence No access
  2. The executive and local bureaucrats No access
  3. Regional and central actors: politicians and bureaucrats No access
  4. External actors on local policy and development No access
2. The Contested Sphere of State Officials: Bureaucrats on Edge No access
3. 1. Competing authority claims and self-interest No access
  2. Suspicion and distrust of the executive bureaucracy No access
  3. Self-aggrandizement and communal expectations No access
  4. Backstage strategies: cutting corners and maneuvering No access
4. Adapting to Multiple Expectations: Bureaucrats between Professionals and Followers No access
5. Concluding Remarks No access
1. 1. When local state institutional reforms matter to constituents No access
  2. The proximate state: seeing the central through the local state No access
2. 1. Competing perspectives on local level participation and development No access
  2. Illusions of local democratic institutions and participatory development No access
  3. Local-central relations and blueprints for local institutional reforms No access
3. 1. Financial resources for daily public goods in the local state No access
  2. External financial inducement and local state institutional expectations No access
  3. Myths of funding assessments and everyday ‘tactical responses’ from the local state No access
  4. Local state institutional change and legitimacy practices No access
4. Policy Outcomes and Sub-Optimality in the Local Institutional Reforms No access
5. Concluding Remarks No access
1. 1. Civil servants’ attitudes towards the local state bureaucracy No access
  2. Local politicians’ responses to reforms and provision of local public goods No access
2. A Tale of Two Institutional Ideas: Competing Views on District Substructures No access
3. Reaction of the Local Public to the Institutional Changes in the Local State No access
4. Concluding Remarks No access
1. Multi-level Embedded Interests and Agency in Local State Institutional Change No access
2. Embedded Interests but Divergent Commitments to Institutional Goals No access
3. Strategically Decoupling Local State Institutional Reforms No access
4. 1. Text production and credibility narratives No access
  2. Texts and metrics in the chain of legitimizing indices No access
5. Local Institution-Building Paradox: Strategy and Trap No access
6. Concluding Remarks No access
1. Looking Back: What We Learn from the Analysis So Far No access
2. Conclusions: Towards a Multi-Level Model of Institutional Reform Analysis No access
3. Contribution to Theory and Research No access
4. Practical Insights, Policy Relevance and Future Research No access
References No access Pages 299 - 318
List of Tables No access Pages 319 - 320
List of Figures No access Pages 321 - 322
List of Images No access Pages 323 - 324
Acronyms and Abbreviations No access Pages 325 - 326
Appendixes No access Pages 327 - 336