Emmanuel Gyimah-Boadi
Afrobarometer
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Primary Section: 53, Social and Political Sciences Membership Type:
International Member
(elected 2019)
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Biosketch
Professor Emmanuel Gyimah-Boadi is co-founder and Executive Director of Afrobarometer, a pan-African survey research project which tracks public opinion on political, economic and social developments in African countries. He is also a co-founder and former Executive Director of the Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), an independent, non- partisan and non-profit policy research and advocacy group on democratic governance.
Born on October 2, 1953 in Ghana, he completed his bachelor's degree in Political Science at the University of Ghana and obtained his master's and doctoral degrees in Political Science at the University of California, Davis. Professor Gyimah-Boadi has taught a wide range of courses in political science and related disciplines at a number of universities including the University of Ghana (1986-2014), the University of Swaziland (1991-1994), and the American University (1995-1996).Professor Gyimah-Boadi has held fellowship positions at the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law at Stanford University, the International Forum for Democratic Studies at the National Endowment for Democracy, and the Woodrow Wilson International Center. He is a member of the Advisory Committee of the Ibrahim Index of African Governance (IIAG), a fellow of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a recipient of several awards including the Martin Luther King, Jr. Award for Peace and Social Justice and the US African Studies Association's Distinguished Africanist Award in 2018.
Research Interests
Emmanuel Gyimah-Boadi is a Ghanaian political scientist recognized for his work on democratic politics, governance, civil society, and political culture in Africa. He has researched and published widely on liberal economic and political reforms in Ghana and Africa since the early 1980s. The Afrobarometer, which he co-founded in 1999, provides rich longitudinal data on citizens' attitudes to and experiences with democracy, governance and social as well as economic development, and also helps to give voice to otherwise silent majorities of citizens across Africa. His writings have consistently highlighted the surprising depth and resilience of citizens' demand for democracy, and the importance of accountable governance to sustainable development and democracy in Africa.
He has published more than a dozen books and monographs, several influential peer-reviewed journal articles, and more than 30 book chapters. Some of Gyimah-Boadi's best-known works include his co-authored book Public Opinion, Democracy, and Market Reform in Africa (2005, Cambridge University Press) and his edited volume on Democratic Reform in Africa: Quality of Progress (2004, Lynne Rienner). He has also written articles on 'The Rebirth of African Liberalism' and 'Civil Society in Africa' in the Journal of Democracy, and the book chapter 'Associational Life, Civil Society, and Democratization in Ghana.'
