ISSN 1027-0353
African Journal of Political Science ISSN 3461-2165 Vol. 7 (11), pp. 001-014, November, 2013. © International Scholars Journals
Full Length Research Paper
Ghanaian opinions on democracy, inter-communal violence and conflict in sub-Saharan Africa
Idris Sharif
Department of Sociology, University of Cape Coast, Ghana. Livingstone College, North Carolina, USA. E-mail: [email protected].
Accepted 09 April, 2013
Abstract
This survey research explores and presents the opinions of people in Ghana on several key areas: democracy and inter-communal violence, conflict in sub-Saharan Africa, Kenyan electoral violence during December 2007/February 2008 and salient issues and problems in Ghana. The study drawing on 407 participants reveal the following: A preference for representative democracy, agreement that there is no perfect electoral system, economic inequality which leads to higher levels of armed conflict, voting irregularities and exploitation of ethnic-tribal sentiments which is a factor in election violence, discrimination and perceptions of superiority which is problematic and ethnic-tribal allegiances that are strong in Ghana.
Key words: Ghana, opinion survey, democracy, electoral violence, ethnicity, inter-communal violence and conflict.