When the PNDC regime instituted economic stabilization policies in 1982, it was aware of its tendency to weaken support for the government, especially since IMF stabilization is a euphemism for "political and social stabilization." Conventional wisdom dictates a linkage between economic stringency and loss of social and political support; structural adjustment often requires careful political management as it involves economic costs that would benefit certain groups and hurt others. Furthermore, identifying the social groups whose interests would be hurt or promoted by liberal economic policy is a crucial calculation of political risks.

Ghana's liberal economic reform was implemented under authoritarian rule. After Rawlings took power by a military coup in 1981, no national elections were held until 1992. The presidential election was full of malpractice, including the accuracy of voters' register and the use of state resources for assisting government candidate's campaign. This led the opposition leaders to not only reject Rawlings' victory but to boycott subsequent parliamentary elections in which the candidates of opposition parties may have won many seats. Also, the PNDC was transformed into the National Democratic Congress (NDC) after the disputed presidential election in December 1992. As Jeong (1995) shows, because of the continued monopoly of power in one party, the 1992 elections have not resulted in any significant changes in government policies and its relationship to major social groups and external economic forces.11
Under structural adjustment, business groups benefited from price liberalization that generated profit margins. The influence of external interest increased under economic liberalization, including donor agencies and multi-national corporations (MNCs), especially on key sectors, since they are often viewed as representatives of foreign interests whose main objectives are to dominate less developed countries (LDCs) and entrench their monopolistic positions in Africa. On the other side of the spectrum in implementing economic liberalization, bureaucrats, manual workers, and low-income consumers were not only directly affected by structural adjustment, but they also comprised the urban consumers who would suffer from reduced purchasing power and the eventual removal of government subsidies.

The elimination of government regulations also jeopardized the careers of civil servants while giving more autonomy to producers. The tactics employed by the Rawlings government included elite consensus, repression, and centralization of power in order to maintain the authoritarian regime. In short, this represents the extremes of governance in Ghana during the 1980s and early 1990s under the authoritarian rule of Rawlings and the PNDC.

The emphasis of the ERP by the Rawlings regime was predicated on increased production in agriculture and industry, combined with reducing the budget deficit by cutting government subsidies and establishing a more efficient revenue mobilization and collection. Rawlings, in his dealings with Ghanaians, exhibited the virtues of effective leadership by espousing the notion that sound economic planning would be the only guarantee of improving the well-being of the people after years of decline. Furthermore, since the launching of the 31 December, 1981 coup, his concern has consistently been focused on the poor and the exploited and his declarations of "power to the people," is reminiscent of a leader providing what is "missing" in the body politic in Ghana, a phenomenon much sought after in many neighboring West African regimes.