Public Policy Making and Policy Change: Ghana’s Local Governance, Education and Health Policies in Perspective

Abstract

This thesis, with the multiple streams framework (MSF) and the new institutionalism (NI) as theoretical lenses, seeks to understand the factors that shape policy making and policy change in post-independence Ghana. More specifically, it seeks to provide a better understanding of the factors that have led Ghana after independence to achieve remarkable, path-departing, substantive change in its health and local governance policies but marginal or incremental changes in its education policy. I argue that policy entrepreneurs and government political will in the form of demonstrated credible intent and commitment of the government culminating in partisan decisions greatly shaped the different policy outcomes and differing magnitude of change in Ghana’s local governance, health, and education policies at specific moments in time. Institutions affect the efforts of policy entrepreneurs and the government to carry out a proposed policy change. Understanding public policy making and policy change is of vital importance because public policies involve who gets what in politics. Thus, there is the need to examine the determinants of public policies and the drivers of policy change. Yet, the analysis of policy making and policy change in Africa, particularly Ghana, has been a neglected area of study. Hence, policy making and policy change in Africa has not been sufficiently explored. Besides, comparative understanding of policy making and policy change in Ghana is under researched. The study, therefore, helps to fill this gap by comparatively analysing how political will and commitment of the government and policy entrepreneurs interact differently to drive policy making and policy change at specific moments in time in Ghana. Relying on the MSF, while paying attention to the impact of differing institutions on the streams, helps to provide a deeper understanding of the policy making process and policy change. Methodologically, the comparative case study method helps in identifying variations, patterns and commonalities in health, education, and local governance policy making and policy change in Ghana. Theoretically, the study aims first, to extend the applicability of the MSF in examining policy making to Ghana and second, to provide a deeper understanding by combining the MSF and the NI.