Episode Synopsis "George Bob Milliar- Party Democracy in Africa: the promotion of market practices in Ghana"

George Bob-Milliar is Senior Lecturer at the Department of History and Political Studies and Director of the Centre for Cultural and African Studies (CeCASt) at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. His research focuses on democratization in Africa, electoral politics in Ghana, informal economies, African Diaspora, and chieftaincy. He has been visiting fellow at various international universities currently edits the Journal of African Political Economy and Development (JAPED) and is member of the editorial board of African Affairs. In the last two-half decades party democracy has taken roots in many corners of Sub-Saharan Africa. Liberal democracy tends to favour capitalist forms of development and market practices over statist policies. One can trace the liberalization of the African economies to the sustained role of the IMF, World Bank, and western capitalist countries in pushing for structural adjustment changes in Africa. The purpose of this talk is to question whether liberal democracy as practiced in Africa has any bearing on the promotion of capitalist forms of development and market practices. Using Ghana as a case study, this talk tries to answer the question: what is the link between party politics, capitalist development and the growth of the private sector? There has been the recognition of the efficacy of market developments in some African states, including Ghana.

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