Subjective well‐being and political participation: Empirical evidence from Ghana

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/rode.12592
• Author: Elijah Agyapong,Iddisah Sulemana
• Published date: 01 August 2019
• Date: 01 August 2019

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wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/rode Rev Dev Econ. 2019;23:1368–1386.

© 2019 John Wiley & Sons Ltd

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INTRODUCTION

Political scientists have learned much about how politics influences public policies, but far less at-

tention has been given to the political determinants of subjective well- being (Radcliff, 2001).1 Over

the past few decades, there has been growing scholarly interest in the relationship between individual

life satisfaction as a measure of subjective well- being and a wide range of political factors, including

political culture, nature and structure of government and democratic institutions, level of freedom,

civil rights and liberties, political participation (e.g. voting and protest), and corruption (Veenhoven,

1988; Frey & Stutzer, 2000a, 2000b; Radcliff, 2001; Di Tella & MacCulloch, 2006; Dorn, Fischer,

Kirchgässner, & Sousa- Poza, 2007; Helliwell & Huang, 2008; Weitz- Shapiro & Winters, 2008;

DOI: 10.1111/rode.12592

REGULAR ARTICLE

Subjective well- being and political participation:

Empirical evidence from Ghana

IddisahSulemana1

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ElijahAgyapong2

1Department of Economics,University of

Ghana, Accra, Ghana

2Robertson School of Government,Regent

University, Virginia Beach, USA

Correspondence

Department of Economics, University of

Ghana, P. O. Box LG 57, Accra, Ghana.

Email: idsulemana@ug.edu.gh

Abstract

A large, extant literature examines the effect of political fac-

tors on individual subjective well- being. These studies have

treated political factors as a cause and subjective well- being

as an effect. A sparse but growing literature now advances

the argument that subjective well- being is a cause and vot-

ing or political participation an effect. In this paper we ex-

amine whether subjective well- being influences voting and

political participation in Ghana. Using data from Wave 6 of

the World Values Survey in Ghana, we find that subjective

well- being influences neither voting nor protest behavior.

JEL CLASSIFICATION

I31, D72

KEYWORDS

Africa, Democracy, Ghana, political participation, subjective well-being,

voting

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SULEMANA ANd AGYAPONG

Tavits, 2008; Ott, 2010). Among these factors, the relationship between political participation and

subjective well- being distinguishes itself as an important area of research (Pirralha, 2017), especially

during the past decade.

On the one hand, the evidence suggests that people tend to be happier in countries that have

democratic governments and where opportunities exist for people to participate in democratic

processes than in countries where such liberties do not exist (e.g. Radcliff, 2001; Frey & Stutzer,

2000a; Di Tella & MacCulloch, 2006; Tavits, 2008). On the other hand, recent studies in Europe

and Latin America have found that political participation has no direct effects on individuals’ sub-

jective well- being (Dorn, Fischer, Kirchgässner, & Sousa- Poza, 2008; Weitz- Shapiro & Winters,

2011; Pirralha, 2017). More recently, an emerging strand of research has modeled life satisfaction

as an independent variable and considered how it affects politics (Weitz- Shapiro & Winters, 2011;

Flavin & Keane, 2012; Lorenzini, 2015). An important research question that has concerned

scholars in this area is whether subjective life satisfaction engenders politically active citizens or

whether it breeds political apathy. For instance, in a study focusing on the United States, Flavin

and Keane (2012) found that life satisfaction influences participation in conventional activities

such as voting, but not in conflictual engagements such as protest. These studies indicate that peo-

ple who are satisfied with their lives are more likely to engage in political activities, suggesting

that the direction of the relationship flows from life satisfaction to political participation and not

the other way around (Weitz- Shapiro & Winters, 2008; Flavin & Keane, 2012). Thus, the evidence

from the two strands of research is inconclusive about the nature of the relationship between po-

litical participation and subjective well- being. Our study, however, follows the example of Flavin

and Keane (2012) by examining the influence of life satisfaction on voting and protest activity in

Ghana.

Most of the extant cross- national and country- specific studies examining the linkages between

political participation and well- being have focused on developed democracies in Western Europe and

the United States (e.g. Diener, Diener, & Diener, 1995; Tavits, 2008; Frey & Stutzer, 2000a; Flavin &

Keane, 2012). Some have also examined countries in Latin America (e.g. Weitz- Shapiro & Winters,

2011). However, there is a dearth of empirical research on the topic for sub- Saharan African countries.

The question remains whether or not life satisfaction and political participation are related in Africa.

This study contributes to the extant literature by providing empirical evidence from Africa, focusing

specifically on Ghana. This is important considering the level of attention given to democratic pro-

cesses, good governance, and socioeconomic development on the continent. Therefore, an empirical

investigation of whether and to what extent life satisfaction and political participation are related in

Africa is necessary.

In particular, Ghana is an interesting case because of its democratic reputation in the sub-

Saharan Africa region. Since it attained independence from British colonial rule in 1957, Ghana

has had a checkered political history. The country had three short- lived civilian governments and

a protracted period of military rule between 1966 and 1992.2 Ghana returned to constitutional

rule in 1993 and has since enjoyed stable democratic processes, including seven successful elec-

tions and three alternations in political power between the two dominant political parties: the

National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP). Although Ghana is

only one of the successful democracies in sub- Saharan Africa, its democratic achievement in

elections has been touted as a model on the continent (Afari- Gyan, 2009; Gyimah- Boadi, 2009),

especially in the economically and politically volatile West African sub- region. Therefore, Ghana

makes an interesting case to examine the linkages between subjective well- being and political

participation in Africa.