When democracy dies

In 1900 no countries qualified as a democracy as we understand it. A hundred years later, in 2000 there were 120 democracies, the highest number in human history. In 2024, 80 countries around the world, home to around four billion people, are holding national elections.

So, all’s well with democracy, then? In a word: ‘no’. Despite an impressive number of elections in 2024, democratic liberties are in decline. In 2023, an estimated 52 countries saw declines in democratic freedoms, because of global conflicts, acute voter dissatisfaction and mass disinformation. Today, around the world there are 63 electoral democracies and 74 autocracies, that is, countries with few or any democratic freedoms.  

According to International IDEA’s Global State of Democracy initiative, Ghana performs in the mid-range across all four categories of the Global State of Democracy framework. Although Ghana is among the world’s top 25 per cent of countries with regard to several factors, there are recent declines in Credible Elections, Access to Justice, and Freedom of Association and Assembly. Liberal dimensions of Ghana’s democracy are in decline. 

Liberal democracy involves: (1) Elections between or among multiple, distinct political parties (2) Separation of powers into different arms of government (3) Rule of law in everyday life as part of an open society (4) Market economy with private property (4) Universal suffrage (5) Equal protection for all citizens of human rights, civil rights, civil liberties and political freedoms.

Quality of democracy

Many Ghanaians are dissatisfied with the quality of the country’s democracy. International observers identify concerns. Sweden’s Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) categorised Ghana as a liberal democracy between 2003-2014, an electoral democracy in 2015-23, and an ‘autocratizer’ in 2024, indicating a significant democratic decline. 

An autocratic regime is one which manages to bypass or weaken democratic institutional constraints such as an impartial administration, vertical and horizontal accountability, as well as free and open media.

What are Ghana’s democratic strengths? There is a viable multi-party system, electoral reforms to improve the structure and process of elections, a lively civil society and independent media, as well as widespread acknowledgement of the importance of democratic norms by both the mass of ordinary Ghanaian citizens and political elites, behaviourally, attitudinally and constitutionally.

Weaknesses

What are Ghana’s democratic weaknesses? Observers have noted the following: electoral processes that continue to be saddled with significant flaws that undermine the integrity of elections and pose a threat of democratic relapse, an executive presidency with wide, some claim, excessive powers, ethnically or tribally based politics potentially undermining political stability, periodic pre- and post-election violence, and limited policy influence for civil society. In its 2023 report on Ghana, Freedom House notes the following democratic weaknesses: ‘discrimination against women and LGBT+ people’, ‘weaknesses in judicial independence and the rule of law, corruption and public service delivery [which] present challenges to government performance’, political violence, and illegal mining – galamsey – causing immense destruction to water bodies. 

Recent Afrobarometer data indicate that democracy is not working well for Ghanaians, for several reasons, including perceptions of increased petty and state-level corruption, as well as pessimism about the direction of national development and lack of belief that successive governments have the ability to deal with these problems. 

In 2023, Afrobarometer found that 77 per cent of Ghanaians say the level of corruption in the country increased during the previous year and 87 per cent of citizens think Ghana is heading in the wrong direction. At the same time, a large majority of Ghanaians (75.9 per cent) express the view that ‘democracy is preferable to any other kind of government’. This implies that democracy per se is not the problem but rather that most Ghanaians believe that democracy is not working well for them.

Freedom of expression

Writing recently in the Daily Graphic, ‘George Bernard Shaw’, the pseudonym of a Ghana-based lawyer, referred to Ghana as ‘a hot cauldron of human rights issues’, with particular concerns about freedom of expression and association and the right to personal liberty. ‘George Bernard Shaw’ was referring to the brouhaha generated by the recent three-day protest, organised by Democracy Hub, drawing attention to the devastating effects of galamsey and calling on the government to act swiftly and ban the act. 

Protests bring public attention to an issue or problem but do not on their own necessarily lead to meaningful changes. What is also required is that those with political power, that is, the president and parliament, devise new and more effective ways to deal with the issues that the popular protests identify. 

So Ghana’s democracy has significant flaws. Does this mean that democracy is on death row in Ghana, as it is currently in several neighbouring countries where recent military involvement in politics has led to newly autocratic regimes? 

To improve democracy in Ghana, it is vital to promptly rejuvenate and refocus relevant institutions, such as parliament, the presidency and the judiciary. To achieve this, it is essential to have a popularly elected government, both accountable and transparent, where serious state-level corruption is minimised, and where ordinary people’s concerns are not only listened to but also purposively addressed by those in power. 

What are the chances of this happening after the 9th round of Ghana’s presidential and parliamentary elections on December 7? 

The writer is an Emeritus Professor of Politics, London Metropolitan University, UK.