COURSE OUTLINE AND READING LISTS- POLI 459: DECENTRALIZATION AND LOCAL GOVERNANCE

DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

UNIVERSITY OF GHANA

FIRST SEMESTER 2017/2018 ACADEMIC YEAR

POLI 459: DECENTRALIZATION AND LOCAL GOVERNANCE

COURSE OUTLINE AND READING LIST

LECTURER: PROF. EMMANUEL DEBRAH

Office: K. Folson Building, Political Science Department, University of Ghana, Legon

Email: ekdebrah@ug.edu.gh

Mobile: 0208132486

Lecture Time: Friday 9:30am – 11:20am

Venue: JQB 23

Course Title	Decentralization and Local Governance
Course Code	POLI 459
Purpose and Objective	Course Description and Objectives: The emphasis on governance at the grassroots/local level has given impetus to local government administration. Ghana’s experience with local government administration predates colonial rule, but since independence local government has become an important component of the developmental process. The course begins by exploring generic concepts of decentralization as analytical tools to explain the significance of local government administration in Ghana. It delineates the various facets of Ghana’s local government administration and configures their impact on the development process. It also identifies and explains the obstacles that impair local government administration and recommends measures to overcome them.   For the purpose of assessment, student will be examined in two phases. An interim assessment that will be taken at the middle of the semester will constitute 30% of final grade.  At the end of the semester, students will take a final examination that will constitute 70% of their final grade.

Week No.	Lecture Topics	Venue
1	Conceptualizing Decentralization	JQB.23
2	Conceptualizing Local Government	“
3&4	Central-Local Government Relations in Ghana	“
5&6	Historical Trajectories of Local Government Administration in Ghana	“
7&8	Chieftaincy and Local Government in Ghana	“
9&10	. Local Government in the 4th Republic: the District Assemblies, etc	“
11&12	Local Government Financing in Ghana – Source of Revenue, Budget, uses and constraints	“
13	Course Review and Evaluation	“
14	Revision and Examination

READINGS

J.R.A. Ayee, Anatomy of Public Policy Implementation, Aldershot, England, 1994.

Philip Mawhood (ed.) Local Government in the Third World: The Experience of Decentralization in Tropical Africa, African Institute of South Africa, 1993.

Paul Nugent Africa Since Independence: A Comparative History Palgrave MaCmillan, New York, 2004.

Irene K Odotei and Albert K. Awedoba (eds) Chieftaincy in Ghana: Culture, Governance and Development, Sub-Saharan Publishers, Accra, 2006.

K.A. Busia, The Position of the Chief in Modern Political System of Ashanti, Frank Cass, London, 1968.

Debrah, E. ‘Assessing the quality of accountability in Ghana’s district assemblies, 1993 – 2008’ African Journal of Political Science and International Relations 3 (6), pp. 278-287, June, 2009.

J. R. A Ayee, ‘The Measurement of Decentralization: The Ghanaian Experience, 1988-92’, African Affairs 95, 1996: 31-50.

Republic of Ghana, Constitution of the 4^th Republic, 1992.

Republic of Ghana, Local Government Act 462, 1993.

.Republic of Ghana, District Assemblies’ Common Fund Act (Act 455).