Martin Acheampong

Dr. Martin Acheampong is a Research Fellow at the GIGA Institute for African Affairs, part of the German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA). His research focuses on democracy, political representation, and executive power in Africa, particularly in Ghana and South Africa. He is actively involved in projects analyzing the personalization of executive power during the COVID-19 pandemic and legislative dynamics in emerging democracies.

• PhD in Political Science (expected), University of Bamberg
• MA in Development and Governance, University of Duisburg-Essen
• BA in Political Science and Sociology, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana

Dr. Acheampong’s research centers on democratization, political institutions, and governance in Sub-Saharan Africa. His work examines how formal and informal institutions shape parliamentary representation and how executive power is personalized in both democratic and authoritarian regimes. He has conducted field research in Ghana and South Africa, focusing on legislative behavior and candidate selection.

His recent publications and presentations reflect a strong trend toward analyzing executive personalization during crises, electoral technologies, and grassroots peacebuilding. These works span comparative political analysis across the Global South, with a regional focus on West Africa.

• Co-author, Personnel, Institutions, and Power: Revisiting the Concept of Executive Personalization (GIGA Working Papers, 2024)
• Contributor to Ten Things to Watch in Africa in 2024 (GIGA Focus Africa, 2024)
• Presenter at ECPR and MPSA conferences on executive power and legislative selection

Dr. Acheampong has taught Institutions, Democracy and Politics in Africa at the University of Hamburg (2024) and previously served as a Lecturer at the University of Bamberg. He is a core member of the research project COVID-19 and Executive Personalization in the Global South, funded by the DFG (2021–2024), and frequently contributes to public discourse through media interviews and policy briefs.

He is affiliated with research teams focused on political accountability, peacebuilding, and institutional resilience in Africa, collaborating with leading scholars such as Prof. Dr. Mariana Llanos and Dr. David Kuehn.