The Role of the International Community in Ghana’s Democratic Transition in the 1990s

Abstract

This article argues that Ghana’s democratization took place through a two-stage process, where the first stage saw the international community play a more dominant role leading up to Ghana’s transition in 1992. Rawlings’ decision to democratize was the outcome of a rare convergence of domestic and international pressures. In the first stage, international forces provided the structural context for political reform. There are two facets of the international impact: snowballing/demonstration effect, and implicit political conditionality. Evidence is given to show that it was only when snowballing and implicit political conditionality held sway over Rawlings that the transition to democracy was given a boost.

Keywords

• international community
• Ghana
• democratic transition
• snowballing