Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Ghanaian Politics and Political Communication (Africa: Past, Present & Prospects)

Working from multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary perspectives (especially, from the social sciences, media studies discourse analysis, text grammar, folklore, performing arts and linguistics), the authors of the volume investigate and illuminate pertinent issues on democratization, elections and electioneering campaigns and the constitution of order in an African context. The strategies through which political actors and the media speak about important policy issues such as healthcare, infrastructure, education, and finance during presidential sessional addresses and political campaigning are also elucidated. The extent of political ecologies' impact on general elections, on policy issues, and on split-ticket voting (especially what causes it to happen and its impact on who gets elected and the consequent impact on party unity or disintegration) are also given scholarly attention. Also elucidated are is the entwinning of language, power, liberty, ideology and representation and issues deemed politically nerve wrecking and capable of entrapping political actors and causing the citizenry to either lose confidence in them or even call for their resignation. Review For nearly 30 years, control over Ghanaian politics has alternated more or less regularly between the New Patriotic Party and the National Democratic Congress. This contrasts with the country's prior history as an independent country. (Earlier Ghana experienced numerous military coups and a few years of single-party rule between 1957 and the establishment of the Fourth Republic in 1993.) The 18 contributors to this valuable book provide detailed discussions of Ghana's transition to democracy. Essays reveal that voters are influenced more by socioeconomic factors than by ethnicity or religion, and that education plays an important role. Though party leaders speak in the former colonial language and their platforms are published primarily in English, political communication at the popular level occurs in vernaculars. Who are the most significant interlocutors? The answer to that question varies widely, and it depends on the audience being addressed. Numerous tables, occasional statistical analyses, detailed chapter-by-chapter end notes, quotations from parliamentary debates, and side-by-side English translations of party tracts add to the scholarly value of this collection. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.-- "Choice"Ghanaian Politics and Political Communication is a unique contribution to understanding the importance of language use in the context of democracy and political communication in Ghana. All contributors to this well-researched book are Ghanaian scholars in fields of political science, linguistics, communication studies, and musicology. The data includes detailed responses to field interviews, questionnaires, presidential speeches to parliament and the nation, as well as analysis of lyrics of music that are assessed to be political. It is observed that for Ghana's democracy to be strengthened and sustained, there is the need for its citizens to be properly informed on issues that are pertinent to their lives. It is further noted that even if the media has access to information, still the use of the English language as the dominant mode of elite communication to the public does not guarantee an informed electorate. Yet, Ghana's record of the Fourth Republic, where incumbency has not necessarily resulted in election victories for the party in power, is indicative that the electorate is rational in its decisions and would be even more so if political actors communicated in the appropriate languages and modes to reach all. A distinguishing characteristic of this project is the application of theories and concepts in political literature to frame the analysis.--David Owusu-AnsahThe thought-provoking, engaging and well-written chapters of this book provide deep insights into political commun