Fields of Interest:

Public Policy, Political Economy

Education: Ph.D., University of Colorado Denver, 2021

Alex Osei-Kojo is an Assistant Professor at the University of Tennessee Knoxville’s Department of Political Science. He joined the Department after obtaining his PhD (2021) in Public Affairs, with a focus on environmental and energy policy, from the University of Colorado Denver. He holds an MPhil (2013) in Public Administration and a BA (2009) in Political Science all from the University of Ghana. Between 2015 and 2017, Alex worked as an Assistant Lecturer at the University of Ghana’s Department of Public Administration and Health Services Management. In this position, he taught undergraduate public policy and administration courses and successfully supervised six (6) capstone essays. Previously, he worked as a Research Analyst in Accra (Ghana’s capital) at the Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG).

In 2015, Alex was one of twenty (20) young Ghanaian scholars selected to deliberate on the performance of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in Ghana. The lessons from this exercise helped fashion Ghana’s contribution to crafting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Later that year, he joined a select group of emerging intellectuals at the University of Bergen, Norway, to discuss global development challenges. At this event, Alex’s presentation titled Thinking About Energy Access in Africa, in addition to others, drew attention to the need for concerted and immediate global action to address the most consequential problem of our time: climate change.

Research

With a regional interest in sub-Saharan Africa, Alex studies environmental and energy policy using policy process theories (e.g., Advocacy Coalition Framework). Specifically, he pursues questions about: 1) advocacy coalitions and agenda setting; 2) interactions between policy actors and institutions; 3) dynamics of policy narratives; and 4) how policy feedback shapes policy venues. He likes to teach public policy and administration courses, and research design and methods

Publication Outlets

His research has appeared in multiple outlets, such as Environment, Development and Sustainability, Resources, Sage Open, International Journal of Multiple Research Approaches, Journal of Public Affairs, and Public Organization Review

Selected Publications

Peer-Reviewed Articles

• Osei-Kojo, Alex., Paul Lawer Kenney, Clement Mensah Damoah, and Albert Ahenkan. 2021. “Collective Learning and COVID-19 Mitigation in Ghana.” Review of Policy Research, https://doi.org/10.1111/ropr.12465
• Osei-Kojo, Alex., Justice Nyigmah Bawole, and Emmanuel Kojo Sakyi. 2019. “The Opportunities and Constraints to Collaboration in Public Sector Management. “Public Organization Review 20, no. 3: 495-510. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11115-019-00452-6
• Osei-Kojo, Alex and Nathan Andrews. 2018. “A Developmental Paradox? The Dark Forces Against Corporate Social Responsibility in Ghana’s Extractives Industry. Environment, Development and Sustainability 22: 1051-1071 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-018-0233-9
• Osei-Kojo, Alex and Nathan Andrews. 2018. “Questioning the Status Quo: Can Stakeholder Participation Improve Implementation of Small-Scale Mining Laws in Ghana?” Resources, 5 no. 4. http://www.mdpi.com/2079-9276/5/4/33
• Osei-Kojo, Alex. 2016. “E-government and Public Service Quality in Ghana.” Journal of Public Affairs 17, no. 3: 1-6. https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.1620
• Osei-Kojo, Alex. 2016. “First Count the Cost: Privatizing Urban Waste Management Services in Sub- Saharan Africa.” African Journal of Public Affairs 9, no. 4: 130-143. http://hdl.handle.net/2263/59019

Peer-Reviewed Book Chapters and Encyclopedia Entries

• Pierce, Jonathan and Alex Osei-Kojo. 2022. “The Advocacy Coalition Framework and Public Governance”. In Handbook on Theories of Governance, ed. Jacob Torfing and Christopher Ansell (forthcoming). Massachusetts: Edward Elgar.
• Osei-Kojo, Alex and Nathan Andrews. 2020. “A Political Economy of Small-Scale Mining in Ghana”. In The Palgrave Handbook of African Political Economy, ed. Samuel Oloruntoba and Toyin Falola, 433-447. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-38922-2_23.
• Osei-Kojo, Alex and Justice Nyigmah Bawole. 2018. “Rethinking the Vicissitudes of Decentralized             Governance.” In the Global Encyclopedia of Public Administration, Public                        Policy, and Governance, ed. Ali Farazmand. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_3614-1  
• Osei-Kojo, Alex and Kwame Asamoah. 2018. “Public Administration, Governance and Illegal Small-Scale Mining in Ghana.” In the Global Encyclopedia of Public Administration, Public Policy, and Governance, ed. Ali Farazmand.doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_3615-1

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