Emmanuel Gyimah-Boadi

Gyimah-Boadi holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from University of Ghana and a Master of Arts and Ph.D in Political Science from the University of California, Davis.[2]

He was a professor at the University of Ghana, in the Department of Political Science, from 1986 to 2014.[2] He was the executive director of the Ghana Center for Democratic Development, a research and advocacy institute he co-founded.[3]

Gyimah-Boadi's research centers around democratic politics in Africa. In particular, he has studied extensively political reforms and liberalism in Ghana.[2]

In 2021, Professor Gyimah-Boadi was named one of ‘100 Most Influential Africans' by New African Magazine [4]

In 2019, he became an international member of the US National Academy of Sciences.[2]

In 2018, he won the 2018 Distinguished Africanist Award of the African Studies Association of USA for his outstanding scholarship and service to the Africanist community.[5]

In 2017, he received the Martin Luther King, Jr. Award for Peace and Social Justice, given by the US embassy to Ghana for advancing democracy, good governance, and economic opportunity.[6]

United States National Academy of Sciences

Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences

International Center for Transitional Justice

Center for Democracy, Rule of Law and Development (Stanford University)

Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars

U.S. Institute of Peace

International Forum for Democratic Development

“Will Africans’ calls for better democracy be met?” (with Carolyn Logan and Joseph Asunka), The World Today, Chatham House (August 2022).

“West Africa’s Authoritarian Turn Democratic Backsliding, Youth Resistance, and the Case for American Help,” Foreign Affairs (July 2022).

“Institutional resources for overcoming Africa’s COVID-19 crisis and enhancing prospects for post-pandemic reconstruction,” Foresight Africa (Brookings Institution, January 2021).

“Africans' Durable Demand for Democracy” (with Carolyn Logan and Josephine Sanny), Journal of Democracy Vol. 32, No. 3 (July 2021) pp. 136-151. “US policy towards Africa: An Africa citizen perspective” (with Landry Singe and Josephine Sanny), Africa in Focus (Brookings Institution, October 2020).

“Democracy Delivery Falls Short”, Journal of Democracy Vol. 30, No.30 (July 2019) pp. 86-94

Making Democracy Work for the People: reflections on Ghana’s 25-year Journey towards democratic development (CDD-Ghana, 2018)

“Africa’s Waning Democratic Commitment,” Journal of Democracy vol. 26, no. 1 (January 2015)

“Political Risks Facing African Democracies: evidence from the Afrobarometer” (with Mike Bratton) Afrobarometer Working Paper, 157 (2015)

“Ghana: The Limits of External Democracy Assistance” (with Theo Yakah) in Danielle Resnick and Nicolas van de Walle eds, Democratic Trajectories in Africa: Unraveling the Impact of Foreign Aid (Oxford University Press, 2013), pp.256-280

“Oil, Politics and Ghana’s Democracy” (with H. Kwasi Prempeh), Journal of Democracy, Vol.23 No.3 July 2012, pp. 94-108

“Another Step Ahead for Ghana,” Journal of Democracy, Vol. 20, No. 2 (April 2009), pp. 138-15

“Corruption and Institutional Trust in Africa: implications for democratic development” (with Daniel Armah-Attoh and Annie Chikwanha) Afrobarometer Working Paper 40 (2007)

Political Parties, Elections and Patronage: Random Thoughts on Neo-Patrimonialism and African Democratization” in Matthias Basedau, Gero Erdmann and Andreas Mehler eds., Votes, Money and Violence: Political Parties and Elections in Sub-Saharan Africa (Sweden, Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, 2007) pp. 21-33

“Politics in Ghana Since 1957: The Quest for Freedom, National Unity and Prosperity” Ghana Studies V. 10 (2007), pp. 107-143

“Ethnic Structure, Inequality and Public Sector Governance in Ghana” (with Richard Asante) in Yusuf Bangura ed., Ethnic Inequalities and Public Sector Governance (Palgrave, 2006) pp. 241-260

The Quest for the ‘Developmental State’ in Africa: What Has Liberal Democracy Got to Do With It? (Accra: Ghana Universities Press, 2010)

“Ghana and South Africa, Assessing the Quality of Democracy” (with Robert Mattes) in Larry Diamond and Leonardo Morlino eds., Assessing the Quality of Democracy (Baltimore, The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005) pp. 238-273

Public Opinion, Democracy and Market Reform in Africa (With Mike Bratton and Robert Mattes) Cambridge University Press (2005).

Democratic Reform in Africa: The Quality of Progress, Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, (2004)

“Ghana: the political economy of ‘successful’ ethno-regional management” in Robin Luckham et al eds. Can Democracy be Designed? (London: Zed Press, 2003) pp. 120-137

“Confronting Corruption in Ghana and Africa”, CDD-Ghana Briefing Paper vol.4, no. 2 (2007)

“Constituencies for Reform in Ghana” (with Michael Bratton and Peter Lewis) Journal of Modern Africa Studies, Vol. 39, No. 2 (2001) pp. 231- 259

“A Peaceful Turnover in Ghana” Journal of Democracy, Vol. 12, No. 2 (April 2001), pp. 103-117

“The Political Economy of Reform” (with Richard Jeffries) in Ernest Aryeetey, Jane Harrigan and Machiko Nissanke eds. Economic Reforms in Ghana: The Miracle & the Mirage (Oxford: James Currey Publishers, 2000) pp. 32-50

“Ghana: The Challenge of Consolidating Democracy” in Richard Joseph ed., State, Conflict and Democracy in Africa, Lynne Rienner Publishers, Boulder Co. (1999).

"Economic Reform and Political Liberalization in Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire: A Preliminary Assessment of Implications for Nation Building" (with Cyril Daddieh) in Kidane Mengisteab and Cyril Daddieh eds, State Building and Democratization in Africa, Faith, Hope and Realities, Praeger Publishers, Westport, Connecticut (1999), pp. 125-156.

"The Rebirth of African Liberalism, " Journal of Democracy, (April 1998), pp. 18-31

"Ghana's Encouraging Elections: The Challenges Ahead." Journal of Democracy, Vol. 8, No. 2 (1997), pp. 78-91.

"The Politics of Economic Renewal in Africa" with Nicolas van de Walle, in Benno Ndulu and Nicolas van de Walle (eds), Agenda For Africa's Economic Renewal, Overseas Development Council, Washington, D.C. /Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick (1996) pp. 211-239.

"Civil Society in Africa," Journal of Democracy Vol. 7, No. 2 (April 1996), pp. 118-132.

"Ghana: Adjustment, State Rehabilitation and Democratization," in T. Mkandawire and A. Olukoshi (eds.), Between Repression and Liberalization: The Politics of Structural Adjustment in Africa, Codesria, Dakar (1995), pp 217-229.

"Associational Life, Civil Society and Democratization in Ghana," in John Harbeson, Donald Rothchild, and Naomi Chazan (eds.), Civil Society and the State in Africa, Lynne Rienner Publishers (1994), pp. 125-148 "Ghana's Uncertain Political Opening," Journal of Democracy, Vol. 5, No. 2 (1994), pp. 75-86.

Ghana Under PNDC Rule, Codesria, London, (1993).

"State Enterprise Divestiture: Recent Ghanaian Experience," in Donald Rothchild (ed.), Ghana: The Political Economy of Recovery, Lynne Rienner Publishers (1991), pp 193-208.

"Public Administration in Ghana," with Donald Rothchild, in V. Subramanian (ed.), Public Administration in the Third World, Greenwood Press, Westport (1990), pp. 229-257.

"Economic Recovery and Politics in the PNDC's Ghana," Journal of Commonwealth and Comparative Politics, Vol. XXVII, No. 3 (November, 1990), pp. 328-343

"Populism in Ghana and Burkina Faso," (with Donald Rothchild), Current History, Vol. 88, No. 538 (May 1989), pp. 221-224 and 241-244.

"Problems in Ghanaian Agriculture and Responses of Post-Colonial Regimes," in K. A. Ninsin and E. Hansen (eds.), The State, Development and Politics in Ghana, Codesria, London (1989), pp. 222-241.

"Ghana's Economic Decline and Development Strategies," with Donald Rothchild, in John Ravenhill (ed.), Africa in Economic Crisis, Macmillan Press (1986), pp. 254-85.

"Rawlings, Populism, and the Civil Liberties Tradition in Ghana," (with Donald Rothchild), Issue, Vol. XXII, No. 3 (Fall/Winter 1983), pp. 64-75.

"Ghana's Return to Constitutional Rule," (with Donald Rothchild), Africa Today, Vol. 28, No. 1 (1982), pp. 3-16.