Gordon Crawford

While the migration of Chinese people to Africa dates back to the 1960s, it has increased significantly in the last two decades. Despite growing interest in such inter-regional migration flows, there is little understanding of the drivers and effects of such movements. Drawing on a combination of data generated through a quantitative survey and in-depth interviews, this chapter examines the drivers and impacts of Chinese migration to Ghana, a country which has been a significant destination for Chinese migrants for several decades. The findings indicate that the migration of Chinese people to Ghana has both positive and negative impacts. Positively, incomes and livelihoods of some Chinese migrants and Ghanaians who work for Chinese investors have improved. However, financial rewards have benefited some more than others, with increased income inequalities along gender and social class lines. Negative impacts include environmental degradation, violation of Ghana’s trade and mining laws, and exploitation of some Ghanaians by Chinese migrants. While Chinese migrants and their families left behind in China benefit through improved incomes and remittances, migration and associated financial flows contribute to a deepening of inequalities in migrants’ sending areas.

The question of whether social movements can catalyze change has preoccupied researchers but an understanding ofhowsuch change can be created is equally important. Specifically, there has been little investigation of how women's movements engage in the process ofimplementationof women's rights laws. We use a case study of Ghana's Domestic Violence Coalition to examine the challenges that movements face in the policy implementation process. The Domestic Violence Coalition, a collective of women's rights organizations, was instrumental to the passage of Ghana's Domestic Violence Act in 2007. Our study investigates the coalition's subsequent attempts to influence the act's implementation. Drawing from the social movement literature, we apply an analytical framework consisting of three internal factors (strategies, movement infrastructure, and framing) and two external factors (political context and support of allies) that have mediated the coalition's impact on implementation. We find that changes in movement infrastructure are most significant in explaining the coalition's relative ineffectiveness, as these changes adversely affect its ability to employ effective strategies and take advantage of a conducive political context and the presence of allies. This article advances the literature on rights advocacy by women's movements by analyzing the challenge of translating success in policy adoption to implementation and explaining why women's movements may have less impact on implementation processes.

Luning and Pijpers (2017) give a valuable analysis of the interplay between politics and geology in forms of cohabitation between international mining companies and small-scale mining operators on large-scale concessions, which reveals much about the ways in which existing power relations are challenged. 'Indepth geopolitics', inclusive of the three-dimensional perspective, is an innovative concept that highlights important components of the dynamics at work from the state to the community level, and shows how these have succeeded in some situations to push back corporate and state dominance in favour of miners from the locality. The case studies of Keegan Resources and Newmont Ghana are very instructive in pointing out the complexities and contextual nature of cohabitation arrangements between large-scale and small-scale mining operators. Factors that influence or even determine the nature of these arrangements include natural, social, political and security concerns. The article draws attention to the role of chiefs, who indeed have almost always played a part in such negotiations, even though this has not been commonly and openly acknowledged. Artisanal miners, both legal and illegal, have also learned to exploit politicians' need for votes in upcoming elections to their advantage, as the article notes. This weakens the resolve of the state to deal with the negative impact of mining, such as environmental destruction, loss of livelihood, and corruption (Crawford and Botchwey 2017). The cohabitation situation revealed in the work of Luning and Pijpers (2017) is, however, more complicated and perhaps more tenuous than they acknowledge. With reference to the negotiation by Keegan Resources with miners from the locality, one has to bear in mind that cohabitation is being sought at the expense of 'outsiders' from elsewhere within Ghana. The informal agreement, in exchange for Keegan's exclusive access to the gold outcrop that the company is targeting, precludes such 'outsiders' from operating on the Bonte site. However, given that galamsey operators typically move from site to site and seldom settle in any particular location, often travelling hundreds of miles to work in gangs, it is difficult to vouch for claims that galamsey operators are local or 'autochthonous'. In addition, the prohibition of the use of mechanized equipment on the Bonte site may not stand the test of time. Since 2009, with the involvement of Chinese miners in gold mining, which peaked in 2013, small-scale mining in Ghana has become highly mechanized, involving the use

This paper examines irregular South-South migration from China to Ghana, and the role it has played in transforming livelihoods and broader developmental landscapes. It looks at the entry from the mid-2000s of approximately 50,000 Chinese migrants into the small-scale gold mining sector. They were mainly from Shanglin County, an area of alluvial gold mining. In Ghana, they formed mutually beneficial relationships with local miners, both legal and illegal, introducing machinery that substantially intensified gold production. However, the legal status of Chinese miners was particularly problematic as, by law, small-scale mining is restricted to Ghanaian citizens. In mid-2013 President Mahama established a military task force, which resulted in the deportation of many Chinese miners. This paper examines the experiences of undocumented Chinese migrants and Ghanaian miners. Findings are that this short-lived phenomenon has had long-lasting effects and significant consequences for Ghanaian and Chinese actors, as well as transforming economic, political, and physical landscapes in Ghana.

This chapter concentrates on emphasis on democracy promotion and investigates policy implementation in Africa through a case-study of Ghana. It examines the democracy assistance programmes of European Union (EU) actors in Ghana, that is the European Commission and the governments of Member States. The chapter presents two questions. First, is the objective of 'civil society strengthening' another example of 'policy evaporation', where policy intentions fail to be followed through in practice? Second, what type of civil society are EU actors trying to construct, and what does this inform us about their underlying concept of civil society and its relationship to democratization? The chapter examines EU democracy promotion policy, and highlights the emphasis placed on civil society strengthening. It indicates the high profile of objectives in EU development cooperation and foreign policy. The chapter also examines EU civil society assistance in Ghana.

This article examines whether and to what extent China’s involvement in Central Asian countries undermines the democracy promotion efforts of the European Union and the United States. Findings confirm that China does indeed challenge Western efforts, but in an indirect way. First, Chinese provision of substantial and unconditional financial assistance makes Western politically conditioned aid appear both ungenerous and an infringement of sovereignty. Second, the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation, inclusive of China’s leadership role, creates an institutional means through which the (semi-)authoritarianism of member states is legitimized and challenges Western emphasis on democracy and human rights. Finally, by the power of its own example, China demonstrates that democracy is not a prerequisite for prosperity, the rule of law and social well-being.

As gold prices soared from 2008 onwards, tens of thousands of foreign miners, especially from China, entered the small-scale mining sector in Ghana, despite it being ‘reserved for Ghanaian citizens’ by law. A free-for-all ensued in which Ghanaian and Chinese miners engaged in both contestation and collaboration over access to gold, a situation described as ‘out of control’ and a ‘culture of impunity’. Where was the state? This paper addresses the question of how and why pervasive and illicit foreign involvement occurred without earlier state intervention. Findings indicate that the state was not absent. Foreign miners operated with impunity precisely because they were protected by those in authority, that is, public officials, politicians and chiefs, in return for private payments. Explaining why state institutions failed in their responsibilities leads to reflection about the contemporary state in Ghana. It is concluded that the informality and corruption characteristic of neopatrimonialism remains predominant over legal–rational structures, albeit in a form that has adapted to neoliberal restructuring. Public office remains a means of private enrichment rather than public service. Such findings cast a shadow over the state and government in Ghana, and tarnish its celebration as a model of democratic governance for Africa.