Electricity State Formation Ghana

7/29/2019 Electricity State Formation Ghana

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ELECTRICITY AND STATE

FORMATION IN GHANA

[email protected]

@africanstates

Ivn Cuesta


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Electricity & State Formation in Ghana

Whats new in Addis Ababa? I asked the

cab driver who was delivering me from Bole

International Airport to my hotel in thePiazza neighborhood at the center of

Ethiopias capital. He responded without

hesitation: There is a problem with

electricity. We get electricity in turns. As we

moved away from the expensive hotels and

restaurants near the airport, I noticed that

all the buildings were cloaked in darkness.

The only light came from other cars and the

occasional lantern in a shop window. My

driver explained that electricity was being

transmitted in shifts, with different

neighborhoods receiving power on alternate

days, 24 hours on and 24 hours off.

Although power outages are not infrequent

in Ethiopian cities, I had never encountered

such regular and extended outages before my

2009 trip.Mains (2012)
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1548-1360.2012.01124.x/abstracthttp://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1548-1360.2012.01124.x/abstract


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These sounded like reasonable

explanations, and yet according to

Getachew they are all in some wayflawed. There is a lot of new industry

near Addis Ababa,Getachew explained,

but almost none in the rest of the

country. These new factories are not

enough to be the cause of the blackouts.

Supplying the countryside with power isdifficult, this is true, but why would the

government do this without adequate

resources? If this is really the problem,

then the government could easily reverse

its decision and cut off electricity to the

countryside. What about the shortage ofwater? I asked. Its true, there is a

shortage of water in Gilgel Gibe,

Getachew argued. But it cannot be

because of lack of rain. It has been

raining. There is no denying that it has

been raining. We have seen the rain. Mains (2012)
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1548-1360.2012.01124.x/abstracthttp://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1548-1360.2012.01124.x/abstract


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How is the relation between state, territory and

processes ofelectrification in Ghana?


Overarching research question


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How has electrification expanded across Ghana in the lasttwo decades?

What difference makes electrification in the relationsbetween the state and other actors?

How is the authority of the state asserted across theterritory after electrification?

How does electrification change the ways in which differentactors understand state territoriality?


Specific research questions


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Sustained increase in access rates in Ghana from1995 [at least in the official figures]

Relevant connections between electricity andpolitics

Electrification is inherently spatial; it spreads as

a network across territory


Why?


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Electrification in Ghana

http://africanstates.wordpress.com/2013/02/10/handling-of-

electricity-supply-and-political-change-in-ghana/
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Social conflicts around pre-paid meters, e.g. South Africa and

Tanzania (MacDonald 2008)

Who really pays the bill? The poor subsidising the well-off, e.g.

Ghana (World Bank 2010) Are infrastructures financed domestically (i.e. Ethiopia) or by

foreign investors? (Hathaway 2008)

Does delivering electricity legitimates the state? Do blackouts and

load shedding undermine legitimacy? (Whinter 2008)

How did colonial administrators use electricity in order toestablish white superiority? (the colonial sublime - Larkin 2008)

How is it used today by the state with analogous purposes?

To what extent electrification boosts patronage politics, i.e. within

the utilities? (Tangri 1999)


Electricity and politics in SS Africa
http://www.hsrcpress.ac.za/product.php?productid=2243http://elibrary.worldbank.org/content/workingpaper/10.1596/1813-9450-5600http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&ved=0CDkQFjAB&url=http://www.internationalrivers.org/files/attached-files/ethioreport06feb08.pdf&ei=xzJQUe28M4WVO-2-gOAK&usg=AFQjCNEvSkktsmWfaFRntc5C7q0XuSv1Tg&bvm=bv.44158598,d.ZWUhttp://books.google.co.uk/books/about/The_Impact_of_Electricity.html?id=MakEyKgj-bIC&redir_esc=yhttp://books.google.co.uk/books?id=wMEs_n_etoYC&dq=larkin+signal+noise&hl=es&source=gbs_navlinks_shttp://books.google.co.uk/books?id=499hfX0_V0UC&dq=tangri+parastatals+africa&hl=es&source=gbs_navlinks_shttp://books.google.co.uk/books?id=499hfX0_V0UC&dq=tangri+parastatals+africa&hl=es&source=gbs_navlinks_shttp://books.google.co.uk/books?id=499hfX0_V0UC&dq=tangri+parastatals+africa&hl=es&source=gbs_navlinks_shttp://books.google.co.uk/books?id=499hfX0_V0UC&dq=tangri+parastatals+africa&hl=es&source=gbs_navlinks_shttp://books.google.co.uk/books?id=wMEs_n_etoYC&dq=larkin+signal+noise&hl=es&source=gbs_navlinks_shttp://books.google.co.uk/books/about/The_Impact_of_Electricity.html?id=MakEyKgj-bIC&redir_esc=yhttp://books.google.co.uk/books/about/The_Impact_of_Electricity.html?id=MakEyKgj-bIC&redir_esc=yhttp://books.google.co.uk/books/about/The_Impact_of_Electricity.html?id=MakEyKgj-bIC&redir_esc=yhttp://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&ved=0CDkQFjAB&url=http://www.internationalrivers.org/files/attached-files/ethioreport06feb08.pdf&ei=xzJQUe28M4WVO-2-gOAK&usg=AFQjCNEvSkktsmWfaFRntc5C7q0XuSv1Tg&bvm=bv.44158598,d.ZWUhttp://elibrary.worldbank.org/content/workingpaper/10.1596/1813-9450-5600http://www.hsrcpress.ac.za/product.php?productid=2243


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History of electricity in SS Africa

Coquery-Vidrovitch (2004),

Showers (2011)
http://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Sources_and_methods_in_African_history.html?id=CS5tHpdMMa4C&redir_esc=yhttp://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1468-0467.2011.00373.x/abstracthttp://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1468-0467.2011.00373.x/abstracthttp://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Sources_and_methods_in_African_history.html?id=CS5tHpdMMa4C&redir_esc=yhttp://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Sources_and_methods_in_African_history.html?id=CS5tHpdMMa4C&redir_esc=yhttp://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Sources_and_methods_in_African_history.html?id=CS5tHpdMMa4C&redir_esc=yhttp://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Sources_and_methods_in_African_history.html?id=CS5tHpdMMa4C&redir_esc=yhttp://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Sources_and_methods_in_African_history.html?id=CS5tHpdMMa4C&redir_esc=y


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Electrification in Europe & the US in late19th / early 20th century
http://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_9/books.google.co.uk/books?isbn=0465013104http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=dAElGDvk2yUC&hl=eshttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_9/books.google.co.uk/books?isbn=0226640787http://books.google.co.uk/books/about/American_Technological_Sublime.html?id=LrdbOJFxWIoC&redir_esc=yhttp://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Networks_of_Power.html?id=g07Q9M4agp4C&redir_esc=y

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Electricity State Formation Ghana