Blog

Richard Joseph argues against development without democracy in Africa (CDD Ghana)

7 April 2014.
Last month our partners at the Ghana Center for Democratic Development hosted political scientist Richard Joseph (Northwestern University) for a talk in which he questioned the “revisionist” argument that high levels of economic growth require sacrificing some of the principles of liberal democracy, a conclusion reached by David Booth and others on the basis of evidence from such cases as Ethiopia and Rwanda. Joseph believes instead that countries like Ghana should pursue a “macro-institutional rupture” pursued through democratic means instead of autocratic ones. His analysis resonates with ESID‘s work on the developmental implications of different kinds of political settlement. You can read Joseph’s full lecture on his blog, or watch the embedded video below.