Economies After Colonialism : Ghana and the Struggle for Power

382 Pages·2018·4.104 MB·English

by  Lindsay Whitfield

Economies after Colonialism
Despite Ghana’s strong democratic track record in recent decades, its
economy remains underdeveloped. Industrial policies are necessary to
transform the colonial trading economy that Ghana inherited at
independence,butsuccessivegovernmentshavebeenunwillingorunable
toimplementthem.Inthishighlyoriginalinterpretation,supportedbynew
empirical material, Lindsay Whitfield exposes the reasons that the
Ghanaian economy remains underdeveloped and sets her theory in
the wider African context. She offers a new way of thinking about the
political economy of Africa that charts a clear path away from defining
Africa in terms of neopatrimonial politics and that provides new
conceptual tools for addressing what kind of business-state relations are
necessary to drive economic development. As a study of Ghana that
addresses both the economy and politics from early colonialism to the
present day, this is a must-read for any student or scholar interested in
thepoliticaleconomyofdevelopmentinAfrica.
lindsay whitfield isAssociateProfessorintheDepartmentofSocial
SciencesandBusinessatRoskildeUniversity,Denmark.Sheistheauthor
of The Politics of African Industrial Policy: A Comparative Perspective
(CambridgeUniversityPress,2015),ThePoliticsofAid:AfricanStrategies
for Dealing with Donors (2008), and Turning Points in African
Democracy(2008).

Economies after
Colonialism
Ghana and the Struggle for Power
lindsay whitfield
RoskildeUniversity
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Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781108426145
DOI:10.1017/9781108545877
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Names:Whitfield,Lindsay,1978–author.
Title:Economiesaftercolonialism:Ghanaandthestrugglefor
power/LindsayWhitfield.
Description:NewYork:CambridgeUniversityPress,2018.
Identifiers:LCCN2018012353|ISBN9781108426145(hardback)
Subjects: LCSH: Ghana – Economic policy – 21st century. | Ghana – Economic
conditions–21stcentury.|Ghana–Commerce.|Economicdevelopment–Ghana.
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InmemoryofRaufu

Contents
ListofFigures pageviii
ListofTables ix
Acknowledgments x
MapofGhana xv
Introduction:TheGhanaianEconomy,FragileStill 1
1 GhanaianPoliticalEconomyandthePoliticsof
IndustrialPolicy 25
2 OriginsofCompetitiveClientelismandWeakDomestic
Capitalists 57
3 ReturntoCompetitiveClientelismintheFourthRepublic 99
4 EconomicGrowth,ButReturntotheColonialTrading
Economy 133
5 ChallengestoDiversifyingExports:AccessingGlobal
MarketsandLearningtoLearn 178
6 ChallengestoModernizingAgro-Processing:Struggles
overInputs,OrganizingSmallholdersandEnforcing
Contracts 215
7 NPPGovernmentandtheNotSo“GoldenAgeofBusiness” 241
8 NDCIIGovernmentandManagingtheNewOilWealth 275
Conclusion:CanIndustrialPolicyWorkinGhana? 309
AppendixA: MCACompact 329
AppendixB: Interviews 332
Bibliography 338
Index 358
vii
Figures
1.1 GhanaGDPGrowth,1961–2016 page29
4.1 WorldCocoaPrice(US$permetricton),1985–2015 137
4.2 TotalExportsandNon-TraditionalExports
(ThousandUS$),1995–2014 139
4.3 WorldGoldPrice(US$perounce),1985–2015 143
4.4 ManufacturingGrowthasaComponentofIndustry
(%ofGDP),1967–2016 157
5.1 MajorPineappleExporterstotheEuropeanMarket,
1995–2014(tons) 203
5.2 Ghana’sSea-andAir-FreightWholePineappleExports,
1994–2014 210
7.1 MCAInterventionZonesandDistricts 266
8.1 Ghana’sOffshoreLicensedOilAreas 279
viii