Students’ and Governments’ Entanglements in Ghana’s Political Transition: How (Not) to Understand Students’ Relations with Civilian and Military Regimes, 1960–92

Abstract

Abstract: Students’ relations with postindependence Ghanaian military regimes have generally been portrayed as positive, yet comparative analysis of the relational dynamics across regime types—military and civilian—is inadequate. This article addresses this knowledge gap using a historical content analytic approach based on original archival and interview data. We argue that strategic and group interests ambiguously influenced students’ entanglement with military and civilian governments, though revolutions initially attracted more support because of their populist political ideologies and development aspirations. This fluctuating pattern of relations, which birthed Ghana’s Fourth Republic, implies that students were concerned mainly with national development beyond ideologically oriented regime leanings. The article thus modifies the predominant scholarly view of African youth, which holds that students have aided or been predisposed to nondemocratic governance and political instability.