In the last decade and half of the twentieth century, a consensus emerged that the difficulties that have slowed down Africa's development are more political than economic. Political scientists and Africa's development partners, consequently, suggested democratization and good governance as means of bringing Africa out of underdevelopment. Accordingly, since 1990, a wave of democratization has engulfed most of Africa. This paper examines the context and origins of the democratization process in Ghana. The politics of Ghana underwent a most rapid process of transformation between 1990 and 1992. The period witnessed the obliteration of a decade of military dictatorship. There was a reinstallation of pluralist politics and constitutional rule. At the same time, a dramatic growth of civil society became discernible. The paper identifies two developments, elite and mass struggles for political and economic incorporation respectively, and external pressures, as having played the dominant role in this process. It highlights the political forces and actors that shaped the restoration of constitutional/ democratic rule in Ghana. The paper addresses the concern that the movement toward democracy in Ghana in the 1990s arose as a demand by politically and economically marginalized elements for incorporation. The political and economic marginalization occurred in conditions of political monolithism, coercive authoritarianism, and economic slump or, in the words of Claude Ake (2000), "persistent underdevelopment". The demand for incorporation occurred on two levels - on the level of elites as demand for political assimilation and on the level of the masses as demand for economic assimilation. Thus, political monolithism and persistent underdevelopment gave birth to a democracy movement the aim of which was economic and political integration. Seen this way, the Ghanaian democratization wave was intended to counteract exclusivity and facilitate inclusivity.
