Institutional Governance Reforms: Examining the Case of ECOWAS

In the last two decades, several member countries of the Economic Communities of West African States (ECOWAS) have put in place several institutional reforms aimed at improving corporate governance. It had been anticipated that the institutionalization of democracy would bring forth several expected benefits such as good governance, strengthen existing institutions, enhance corporate governance practices, and overall, improve the general welfare of the citizenry. This research uses data from World Bank Governance Indicators for all ECOWAS countries, and examines the quality of institutional governance from 1996 to 2012. The findings of this research show that the embracing of democratic culture has not significantly improved the quality of institutional governance of many ECOWAS countries. Rather, the data reveals that there has been an increasing trend of political instability and violence in some of the ECOWAS countries such as Guinea Bissau, Cote d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Senegal, Gambia, and Togo. In addition, regulatory quality and governance effectiveness for many ECOWAS countries are either declining or at best stagnated. Ceremonial institutional conformity tends to be the norm rather than the exception. More importantly, restraining of press freedom and institutionalized corruption have significantly negatively influenced the quality of corporate governance practices in the region. Therefore, it is important to strengthen the electoral institutions to ensure free and fair elections that will reduce political violence and enhance political stability and by so doing strengthen corporate governance practices.