Concordance Civil–Military Relations in Ghana’s Fourth Republic

Civil–military relations in Ghana have a chequered history; since the first coup of 1966, there had been four military takeovers of political power, in 1969, 1972, 1979, and 1980. Relations are thawing, as evidenced by the fact that there has been no overt attempt at overthrowing a government since...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Armed forces and society 2020-10, Vol.46 (4), p.618-634
Main Author: Salihu, Naila
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Armed forces
Civil-military relations
Coups d'etat
Data collection
Discourse
Military officers
Military relations
Political elites
Political power
Politics
Recruitment
Social composition
Takeovers
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Summary:Civil–military relations in Ghana have a chequered history; since the first coup of 1966, there had been four military takeovers of political power, in 1969, 1972, 1979, and 1980. Relations are thawing, as evidenced by the fact that there has been no overt attempt at overthrowing a government since 1992. This article employs a qualitative approach to data collection and analysis to explain civil–military relations in Ghana’s Fourth Republic (1992–2018). It argues that there is agreement among three societal partners—political elites, military, and the citizenry on four variables; social composition of the officer corps, political decision–making, and recruitment and military style. Yet focus of the civil–military discourse has been on political elites and military. These two are vital to the political decision process. Although the third partner, the citizenry has a meaningful voice, military–society relations fluctuates over time. There is mixed perceptions among Ghanaian about the armed forces.
ISSN:0095-327X
1556-0848
DOI:10.1177/0095327X19841665