Abstract:

Ghana’s post Fourth Republican encounter with extremism anchored on the secession of Western Togoland raises a pertinent question: under what conditions does extremism fester in a context of democratic cultural autonomy? The Western Togoland Secessionist Movement, which has persisted under various guises since 1946, has its current phase overlapping with the establishment of the Fourth Republic. This is puzzling because the present constitutional order (unlike previous versions) inspired by the consociational thoughts of Arend Lijphart is designed to curb radical ethno-nationalism which was prevalent in pre-Fourth Republic Ghana. This presentation seeks to explore the historical dynamics of the said paradox with the aid of political reciprocity in a bid to ascertain the extent to which the extremist tendencies can be deescalated through discursive democracy rather than the current coercive containment measures of government.

Nene-Lomotey Kuditchar is a lecturer at the Department of Political Science and a Fellow at the Merian Institute for Advanced Studies in Africa, University of Ghana. His research interests include meta-power theory, critical realism, African democracy and international politics.