Ghanaian Politics and Political Communication

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.

Table of Contents:
Prologue Preface and Acknowledgments Dedication Chapter 1. Introduction Samuel Gyasi Obeng and Emmanuel Debrah PART ONE: GHANAIAN POLITICS Chapter 2. Ghana’s Political Environment and the 2016 General Election Emmanuel Debrah, University of Ghana Chapter 3. Election Campaign in Ghana’s 2016 National Elections Seidu Alidu, University of Ghana Chapter 4. Communicating with the Electorate in the 2016 Elections: Did the Political Parties and their Candidates Lean on the Issues? Richard Asante, University of Ghana Chapter 5.(Mis)Coordination: Why Would Ghanaian Political Actors and Political Parties Encourage Split-Ticket Voting? Samuel Darkwa, University of West Virginia Chapter 6. Are Members of Parliament in Ghana Responsive to their Constituents in Policy Making? Evidence from the National Health Insurance Scheme Hassan Wahab, University of Ghana PART TWO: GHANAIAN POLITICAL COMMUNICATION Chapter 7. When Government Is Unaware It Is Incommunicado Margaret I. Amoakohene and Kwasi Ansu-Kyeremeh, University of Ghana Chapter 8. Pragmatic Analysis of First Person Pronoun Deixes in President Nana Akuffo Addo’s 2018 State of the Nation’s Address (SONA) Kofi Agyekum, University of Ghana Chapter 9. Discursive Construction of the Representative Claim in UK and Ghanaian Parliamentary Discourse Kwabena Sarfo Sarfo-Kantankah, University of Cape Coast Chapter 10. How Much Communication is in Ghanaian Presidents’ State of the Nation Addresses? Margaret I. Amoakohene, University of Ghana Chapter 11. Power, Domination and Manipulation in Students’ Parliamentary Discourse in Ghanaian University Dora F. Edu-Buandoh and Nancy Boahemaa Nkansah, University of Cape Coast Chapter 12. The Role of Music in Ghanaian Political Communication Kofi Agyekum, Joshua Alfred Amuah and Hilarius Mawutor Wuaku, University of Ghana Chapter 13. President Akufo-Addo’s Address to the Nation on the US-Ghana Military Co-operation Agreement: A Political Communicative Functional and Framing Analytic Approach Etse Sikanku, Frank Kofi Boadi, Halisa Aziz and Nana Kwame Osei Fordjour, University of Ghana Chapter 14. Language and Liberty in the Ghanaian Political Ecology: A Brief Overview Samuel Obeng, Indiana University Epilogue Author Information