How can Africa's societies reorient and rebuild state
apparatuses where predatory, neo-patrimonial governance has held sway?
This
emerges as a key question if one accepts that dysfunctional institutions,
and not just poor initial conditions, a hostile international environment,
external shocks, or policy errors, have impeded Africa's economic
recovery. Although analysts and organisations place differing weights
on these various causes, few now dissent from the consensus that
political-institutional reforms are a necessary condition for African
development. Yet recognising the need for such change is one thing;
knowing how to bring it about is quite another. Few guidelines exist to
steer this complex and long-term task. Democratisation is now often
cited as one means to foster institutional renewal, and this article draws
on the Ghanaian experience to reflect upon the efficacy of this route.