Journal Articles
African Affairs | 2026
How Constituency Gatekeepers Shape Parliamentary Behaviour in Ghana
This article examines how parties adapt candidate selection across constituencies and how these choices shape legislative behaviour. Using evidence from the New Patriotic Party’s 2020 parliamentary primaries in Ghana, it shows that restrictive nominations in safe seats favour loyal candidates who prioritize parliamentary activity, while more open primaries in competitive constituencies produce MPs who focus more on constituency representation.
Democratization | 2025
Personnel, Institutions and Power: Revisiting the Concept of Executive Personalisation
How do chief executives personalize power? In this paper, my colleagues and I conceptualize the personalization of executive power based on observable processes initiated by the chief executive looking at personnel management, institutional engineering, and coercion.
Parliamentary Affairs | 2025
Why do Members of Parliament (MPs) in Africa’s emerging democracies focus so heavily on constituency work at the expense of parliament? This paper argues that traditional authority and patron-clientelism shape how legislators represent their constituencies.
Global Society | 2025
This article examines the link between grassroots peacebuilding and resilient local structures in the Global South, focusing on northern Ghana. While bottom-up approaches promote participation, findings reveal that civil society-led efforts have struggled to establish lasting peace infrastructure.
Journal of Developing Country Studies | 2022
Elected political elites in Ghana face the dilemma of winning the next election by pursuing voter-pleasing, short-term policy goals or embarking on long-term structural transformation with short-term electoral disadvantages. This article investigates how they respond to this dilemma. The analysis demonstrates that competitive elections and associational liberties affect the pursuit of long-term policy planning in Ghana. The incentive to implement or abandon long-term plans is shaped by the rational calculations of the country's political elites in response to the short-term preferences of electorates.
The Journal of Legislative Studies | 2021
There is a disconnect between Members of Parliament (MPs) in Ghana and their constituents. This article investigates why this is so despite the candidate-centeredness of the country's electoral institutions. The analysis shows that patron-client exchanges in internal party competitions in Ghana de-link MPs and constituency voters and instead recast this relationship between MPs and their party delegates.
International Journal of African Development | 2016
Why did many microfinance institutions collapse in Ghana? Focusing on the Ashanti Region, this study shows that risky, unethical, and poorly managed lending practices—combined with weak due diligence—were the primary drivers of failure. The 2013 macroeconomic crisis intensified the scale of the collapse but was not its root cause.
Book Chapter
West European Politics Series | 2026
In majoritarian systems with many safe seats, competition shifts inside parties. Evidence from Ghana shows party elites reward not only patronage, but also parliamentary work and constituency service. Yet their priorities shift by seat competitiveness and whether the party is in government or opposition.
Others
GIGA Working Paper Series | 2024
Personnel, Institutions and Power: Revisiting the Concept of Executive Personalisation
Evidence shows a growing trend of chief executives personalizing power in autocracies and democracies. Yet, scholarly focus remains siloed according to regime type. This Working Paper presents an overarching framework on the “Personalization of Executive Power,” identifying the mechanisms involved.
University of Bamberg Press | 2022
What do MPs prioritize: their constituents, their party, or national policymaking? Analysing legislators in Ghana and South Africa, this study shows that MPs make trade-offs between these roles, with informal institutions and electoral pressures playing a central role in shaping how they represent citizens.