Corruption, Class, and Politics in Ghana - Couverture souple

Harsch, Ernest

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 0896803430 ISBN 13 : 9780896803435

Editeur : Ohio University Press, 2024

Synopsis

Ghana has long struggled against persistent corruption that has sapped state treasuries, distorted economic and social relationships, and undermined public confidence in government. In recent decades, concerns about corruption have become common in international policy circles, media, and academia. Ghanaians, however, began grappling with the issue long before outsiders expressed interest. From their indigenous precolonial societies through the decades of British rule to the various postindependence regimes, Ghanaians have aspired both to clean house at the top and to ensure that day-to-day affairs are managed honestly and with justice for ordinary citizens. Drawing on decades of research and interviews with Ghanaian officials and activists, Ernest Harsch focuses closely on corruption's political implications: that is, how political actors use concerns about graft and related misdeeds to advance their own agendas. Harsch also considers social dimensions: class, ethnicity, gender, and other distinctions. While elite perspectives are well represented in official records, this book pays particular attention to voices from below, expressed through popular demonstrations, strikes, and other rebellious actions. In addition, activists have produced or collected hundreds of original protest declarations, petitions, reports, and letters. Those documents reveal that ordinary Ghanaians have opposed corruption not so much because it distorts markets--a central complaint of external and elite actors--but because it makes their daily living conditions so much harder and deepens inequities by disproportionately benefiting those with wealth and harming those without.

A propos du livre

À propos de l?auteur

Ernest Harsch is a research scholar at the Institute of African Studies at Columbia University. He worked on African issues at the United Nations for more than twenty years and is the author of numerous books, journal articles, and book chapters.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Ohio University Press
• Date d'édition: 2024
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 0896803430
• ISBN 13: 9780896803435
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 380
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible