Skip to main content

LUP Student Papers

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Economic Voting In The Developing Democracy - A Case Study of Voting Behavior in Ghana

Söderberg, Fanny LU (2024) STVK05 20241
Department of Political Science
Abstract
Following decolonisation and a transformation towards democracy, voting in African countries have been considered a practice based on ethnical alignments and clientelism. This study uses the framework of economic voting, the idea that voters consider the economic performance of an incumbent leader to either punish or reward them, to investigate the vote choice in Ghana. Economic voting theory has previously primarily been applied to a European or American context. The aim of this study is to understand if economic voting theory can be applied in another context by answering the research question: “Can economic voting be observed in an African context?” The study was conducted using quantitative methods analysing data from the Afrobarometer... (More)
Following decolonisation and a transformation towards democracy, voting in African countries have been considered a practice based on ethnical alignments and clientelism. This study uses the framework of economic voting, the idea that voters consider the economic performance of an incumbent leader to either punish or reward them, to investigate the vote choice in Ghana. Economic voting theory has previously primarily been applied to a European or American context. The aim of this study is to understand if economic voting theory can be applied in another context by answering the research question: “Can economic voting be observed in an African context?” The study was conducted using quantitative methods analysing data from the Afrobarometer surveys from 2014 and 2017. Logistic regression gave significant results for a model including respondents' self-reported assesments of the current economy, the performance of the incumbent, development of the economy over the past 12 months, closeness to party, age and gender. The results suggest that the economy does have a significance as a predictor of intended vote choice, however it was not observed be the greatest determinant. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Söderberg, Fanny LU
supervisor
organization
course
STVK05 20241
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
Ghana, economic voting, logistic regression, vote choice, Afrobarometer.
language
English
id
9171611
date added to LUP
2024-10-01 11:17:28
date last changed
2024-10-01 11:17:28
@misc{9171611,
  abstract     = {{Following decolonisation and a transformation towards democracy, voting in African countries have been considered a practice based on ethnical alignments and clientelism. This study uses the framework of economic voting, the idea that voters consider the economic performance of an incumbent leader to either punish or reward them, to investigate the vote choice in Ghana. Economic voting theory has previously primarily been applied to a European or American context. The aim of this study is to understand if economic voting theory can be applied in another context by answering the research question: “Can economic voting be observed in an African context?” The study was conducted using quantitative methods analysing data from the Afrobarometer surveys from 2014 and 2017. Logistic regression gave significant results for a model including respondents' self-reported assesments of the current economy, the performance of the incumbent, development of the economy over the past 12 months, closeness to party, age and gender. The results suggest that the economy does have a significance as a predictor of intended vote choice, however it was not observed be the greatest determinant.}},
  author       = {{Söderberg, Fanny}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Economic Voting In The Developing Democracy - A Case Study of Voting Behavior in Ghana}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}