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Political associations and public discourse on policy issues are essential components of any democratic system. Yet, their characteristics, particularly those concerning change or stability over time, remain largely understudied, especially outside western jurisdictions. By applying the advocacy coalition framework (ACF) to the context of Ghana's oil and gas governance, this article seeks to reduce these limitations by analysing coalition stability at the micro- and meso-levels as well as examining the stability of policy frames as expressions of policy beliefs. Applying analysis of variance and network analysis, these objectives are pursued using news media data collected between 2007 and 2019. The results show coalition stability at the meso-level but instability at the micro-level. In addition, some policy frames appear more stable while others seem less stable. This article contributes to existing knowledge by proposing two levels of coalition stability analysis, augmenting the number of ACF applications beyond western jurisdictions, facilitating comparative analysis, and producing more generalisable knowledge.

This article contributes to the growing discourse on the potential of e‐government to transform the operations of public sector institutions, thereby improving public services. It does so by conceptualizing public service quality into efficiency, economy (cost reduction), customer satisfaction, and service accessibility and draws on qualitative data from the Ghanaian narrative for illustration. As previous studies have demonstrated, this study also affirms the potential of e‐government in improving public services delivery by increasing efficiency, reducing the cost of operations, expanding access to services, and achieving customer satisfaction.Yet, there remains a repertoire of challenges such as weak ICT infrastructure especially in towns and villages, incessant power outages and illiteracy, which are drawbacks to fully harnessing the benefits of e‐government in Ghana. The study recommends that these challenges should feature prominently in e‐government policies to increase the chances of solving them.

AbstractWe apply the theory of representative bureaucracy to examine if gender congruence between family planning care providers and service recipients correlates with communication behaviors during consultation. We use nationally representative administrative data from Tanzania's Demographic and Health Survey (DHS). We apply a series of logistic and ordered logistic regression analyses and find that gender congruence is correlated with both family planning service recipients' and care providers' communication behaviors. Despite confirming the principal tenets of the theory of representative bureaucracy, we also document mixed results when considering the moderating effects of service recipients' prior experience with service on communication behaviors. Taken together, representation has a positive effect on female providers' communication behavior. Yet, for service recipients, its benefits are contingent upon the type of outcome assessed and prior experience with service. We discuss the policy and practical implications of our study in the context of the benefits and limits of representation.

AbstractAlthough the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF) emerged in Western democratic contexts, scholars increasingly apply it in other parts of the world to analyze diverse policy topics. These cross-country comparisons have provided a means for advancing comparative research, drawing lessons about policy processes, and offering opportunities to refine the framework. In this paper, we provide an overview of the ACF and its use as an analytical tool for comparative research. Through a systematic literature review, we identified 27 applications in 15 African countries, including democracies, authoritarian governments, and hybrid systems. Based on these applications published in peer-reviewed journals, we explore this illustrated collection of case studies to see how the ACF has been applied outside of Western democracies and to identify strengths and weaknesses of the ACF as a portable framework. These applications confirm the basic postulations of the ACF, but we also identify a few nuances and expectations. Based on these insights, we finally lay out a research agenda and a new generation of questions for applying the ACF in the African context as well as globally.

Corruption exists in all political jurisdictions globally, but it is believed to be more pronounced in transitional democracies especially African countries. Due to the extent of corruption in African countries, scholars and practitioners in the fields of public policy and development studies suggest that corruption has significantly undermined, and continues to undermine development on the continent. Using Africa as a case study and selected theoretical models, this paper views corruption as a transaction process and provides a model to explain how the transaction occurs between the actors involved. It also explores how corruption diminishes efforts towards the development of Africa, and proposes a comprehensive framework that can be adopted to curb the canker of corruption in Africa. The study adopted the content analysis technique within qualitative study. It thus, draws extensively on existing literature available in peer reviewed articles, conference and government reports, books and magazines. Among the key findings of the study are that; corruption is a two-way affair, which manifests in some sort of demand and supply. It was also found out that the prevalence of weak bureaucratic institutions and systems (context) and the manner of how transactions are conducted (process) all contribute to promotion of corruption in developing African countries. In order to address the problem of corruption, the study recommends the adoption of a holistic approach, which involves a strong political will to enforce law and order, strengthening state institutions to detect, expose and prosecute culprits irrespective of their status and political affiliation. The paper also suggests that bureaucratic and political elites should take the lead in fighting corruption by conducting themselves in a manner that will inspire trust and confidence in the entire political system.

In recent times, there have been calls on public sector workers to increase productivity in the public sector of Ghana. This comes against the backdrop that productivity in Ghana's public sector appears to be consistently declining. While this seems to be the situation, it appears there is paucity of literature on the actual causes of productivity and how it can be improved in Ghana. Using secondary data and content analysis, this paper examines the phenomenon of low productivity in the public sector and recommends measures for improvement. Findings of the study revealed that poor remuneration systems in the public sector, political interference, and bureaucratic inertia are among the causes of low productivity in the public sector. The study recommended that public sector productivity could be enhanced through the establishment of a flexible bureaucracy, improvement in remuneration, regular monitoring and evaluation of the performance of the public sector and appointment of personnel based on merit. Political will as effective leadership are considered useful instruments to propel productivity in the public sector.

AbstractCOVID‐19 has created significant uncertainty and disruption among governments and people across the globe. Policy studies present various theoretical frameworks that allow scholars and practitioners to make sense of these developments in a structured and systematic fashion. In this paper, we combined the collective learning framework with documentary data and process tracing analysis to describe, first, the features of the COVID‐19 collective learning setting in Ghana. Next, we explored the linkages among learning processes, learning products, and COVID‐19 mitigation. We found that diverse policy actors operated at distinct levels of government and performed different functions in managing the pandemic. Furthermore, we confirmed all three phases of learning (acquisition, translation, and dissemination) in Ghana's context. Lastly, policies, such as public gathering management, mandatory mask‐wearing, partial lockdown, and fiscal and tax reliefs enabled the government to mitigate the pandemic's impact on people. We conclude by highlighting the implications of these findings for policy learning scholarship.