The liminality of institutional design of petroleum governance in Ghana: Political will, political settlements and contentions as defining factors

TY - JOUR

T1 - The liminality of institutional design of petroleum governance in Ghana

T2 - Political will, political settlements and contentions as defining factors

AU - Sefa-Nyarko, Clement

PY - 2022/10

Y1 - 2022/10

N2 - Governance of Ghana's petroleum sector has evolved from personalised moments of institutional adjudication, and through exclusive clientelist political manoeuvres, to the active involvement of non-state actors. These three phases have also coincided with peaceful political transitions from one political party or regime to the other: from 1983 to 2000, 2001 to 2008, and 2009 to 2016. This paper investigates the trajectories of institutional design in these phases using the lens of an originally anthropological concept called liminality. The study is a synthesis analysis of qualitative interviews with over 100 people, including petroleum governance stakeholders, practitioners, and extractive community members in Ghana. The findings show that by 2016, the governance of the petroleum sector had transformed from liminal spaces into a more counterbalanced and predictable institutional framework despite persistent constraints. I argue that during the in-betwixt and in-between of institutional design, contentious politics and political settlement superseded any predictable and intentional objectivity in petroleum governance. By situating Ghana's petroleum experience within broader theoretical discourse, this paper offers scholars an opportunity to apply the findings to other geographies and sectors.

AB - Governance of Ghana's petroleum sector has evolved from personalised moments of institutional adjudication, and through exclusive clientelist political manoeuvres, to the active involvement of non-state actors. These three phases have also coincided with peaceful political transitions from one political party or regime to the other: from 1983 to 2000, 2001 to 2008, and 2009 to 2016. This paper investigates the trajectories of institutional design in these phases using the lens of an originally anthropological concept called liminality. The study is a synthesis analysis of qualitative interviews with over 100 people, including petroleum governance stakeholders, practitioners, and extractive community members in Ghana. The findings show that by 2016, the governance of the petroleum sector had transformed from liminal spaces into a more counterbalanced and predictable institutional framework despite persistent constraints. I argue that during the in-betwixt and in-between of institutional design, contentious politics and political settlement superseded any predictable and intentional objectivity in petroleum governance. By situating Ghana's petroleum experience within broader theoretical discourse, this paper offers scholars an opportunity to apply the findings to other geographies and sectors.

KW - institutional design

KW - liminality

KW - Ghana

KW - petroleum governance

KW - contentious politics

KW - political settlement

U2 - 10.1016/j.erss.2022.102799

DO - 10.1016/j.erss.2022.102799

M3 - Article

SN - 2214-6296

VL - 92

SP - 1

EP - 10

JO - Energy Research & Social Science

JF - Energy Research & Social Science

IS - 2022

ER -