Abdul-Gafaru Abdulai

2006, MPhil in Development Studies, University of Cambridge, UK.
2004, B.A in Political Science, University of Ghana, Legon, Accra.

Supervisors: David Hulme and Anthony Bebbington.

Poverty reduction strategies; Democratisation & Human rights in Africa; Decentralization in developing countries; Role of civil society & NGOs; Corruption and governance.

The aims of my research are to: a) explain the factors that account for the persistent high levels of extreme poverty in Northern Ghana; and b) to critically examine the role of the post-colonial Ghanaian state in bridging the north-south divide that characterise Ghana’s development processes.  I am particularly interested in examining, from a comparative perspective, the efforts of the two dominant political parties in Ghana, namely the National Democracy Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in addressing the ‘northern problem’ since the return to multiparty democracy in 1992.  In this regard, an in-depth study of one recent initiative each under the first NDC government (1993-2000) and the recently ousted NPP administration (2001-2008) will be undertaken, with the view to understanding: how these two dominant, ideologically-different [at least in theory] parties have attempted to address the north-south divide in Ghana; the different factors that motivated their desire to alter the persistent underdevelopment of the north; and the outcomes of these initiatives.

In recent years, Ghana has made impressive progress with regards to socio-economic and political development, with contemporary Western media and international donors increasingly portraying the country not merely as a success story, but also as a model for Africa. Politically, although many recent elections in Africa have been marred by widespread vote rigging and violence, Ghana continues to enjoy a stable political environment, holding five relatively peaceful and successful national elections between 1992 and 2008.  Considerable achievements have also been made within the economic sphere, with income poverty almost reduced by half between the early 1990s and mid-2000s.

But concealed in these impressive gains is the persistence of gross inequalities between the north and south of the country.  Ghana is made up of 10 administrative regions, three of which (Northern, Upper East and Upper West regions) comprise northern Ghana, while the remaining seven are loosely categorized as constituting southern Ghana. Historically, the severity and depth of poverty has remained highest in northern Ghana, where current poverty levels in the three regions range between 52 percent and 88 percent of the population. By contrast, the national average is about 28 percent, with the lowest rate of 12 percent registered in Accra, the nation's capital.  Indeed, the trend towards poverty reduction in most regions is not replicated in the north, with income poverty actually increasing in Upper West region from 84 percent in 1998-99 to 88 percent in 2005-06.

Therefore, we pose the following fundamental questions in this study:

• What factors account for the growing inequality between the north and south of the country in recent times?
• How have successive Ghanaian governments confronted the historical and contemporary development gap between the north and south of Ghana?
• To what extent has the post-independent Ghanaian state been committed in addressing the north-south developmental gap?
• Why has the state been generally unsuccessful in altering the persistent underdevelopment of Northern Ghana?

Abdulai, A-G., & Crawford, G., ‘Is Ghana a Model for Africa?’ Feature Article, World Politics Review 5 January 2010.  Published online at the World Politics Review website.

Abdulai, A-G., and Crawford, G., ‘Democratic Consolidation in Ghana: Prospects and Challenges? Democratization, Volume 17, Issue 1, pp.26- 67, February 2010.

Crawford, G. and Abdulai, A-G., ‘The World Bank and Ghana’s Poverty Reduction Strategies: Strengthening the State or Consolidating Neo-liberalism?’ Special Issue on Poverty Reform and the World Bank, in Labour, Capital and Society, Volume 42, Numbers 1&2, pp.82-115 December, 2009.

Abdulai, A-G., and Quantson, R., ‘The Changing Role of CSOs in Public Policy Making in Ghana’, Ghana Social Science Journal, Volumes 5&6, Numbers 1&2, 2008/2009.

Abdulai, A-G., ‘Are Multinational Corporations Compatible with Sustainable Development? The Experience of Developing Countries’, in John R. McIntyre, Silvester Ivanaj and Vera Ivanaj (eds.), Multinational Enterprises and the Challenge of Sustainable Development, pp. 50-72, Edward Elgar Publishing, October 2009.

Abdulai, A-G., ‘Political will in combating corruption in developing and transition economies: A Comparative Study of Singapore, Hong Kong and Ghana’, Journal of Financial Crime, Volume 16, No.4, pp. 387-417, September 2009.

Abdulai, A-G., ‘Ghana: A Political Context Study’ (PDF, 367KB), Background paper prepared for a two-year comparative research project titled ‘Human Rights, Power and Civic Action in Developing Countries’, Universities of Leeds (UK) and Oslo (Norway), Working Paper No.1, January 2009.

Relevant Work History

2007- 2009 Research Officer, Institute for Democratic Governance, Accra, Ghana.
2004-2005 Teaching Assistant, Department of Political Sci., University of Ghana.

Funding

Graduate Teaching Fellowship, University of Manchester.

Presentations in International Conferences

‘The challenges of Consolidating Democracy in Ghana’ Paper presented at the International Deliberative Democracy Workshop organized by Kettering Foundation, Dayton, Ohio, USA, July 2, 2008.

 ‘Are Multinational Corporations Compatible with Sustainable Development? The Experience of Developing Countries’ (PDF, 180KB), Paper presented at the First International Research Colloquium on Multinational Enterprises and Sustainable Development, Atlanta, Georgia, October, 19-20, 2006.