With Ghana's colonial and postcolonial politics as a backdrop, this book explores the ways in which historically marginalized communities have defined and redefined themselves to protect their interests and compete politically and economically with neighbouring ethnic groups.

Composite work on the influence of politics on social change and the sociological aspects therof. References.

The paths of African states have diverged markedly since the termination of colonial rule. Nevertheless, Ghana, the first African state to achieve independence, epitomizes both the political gyrations and the overall stagnation common to many other countries on the continent. This work concentrates on the 1969–1982 period in Ghana, focusing on two interrelated facets of African politics: the decline of state power and authority, and adjustments to political recession. The author traces the dual patterns of diminution of the state and the adaptation of autonomous coping mechanisms in the separate spheres of political leadership, political structures and institutions, ideology, and political economy. The dynamic of state-society interactions is then treated in terms of the rhythm of dissent, conflict, and disengagement. Dr. Chazan provides a comprehensive study of Ghanaian politics from the 1970s to the present. By systematically analyzing the process of political decline and regeneration, she highlights similar processes apparent elsewhere in Africa. The stress on the subtleties and direction of political change has important implications for policymakers and policy analysts alike.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1976.

First published in 1998. As the first of the newly independent nations of Africa, Ghana has received fulsome attention from scholars in many fields. In this intensive case study on educational development by two principal considerations. The documentary materials relating to the earlier history of the Gold Coast and adjacent areas were unusually extensive and well organized. Ghana now possesses the most elaborated school system in sub-Saharan Africa. But the expansion of this system has given rise to many perplexing problems and revealed many unexpected consequences, and the author suggests that similar experiences will be the lot of many other countries, even outside Africa. So this is not just study of Ghanaian education alone but a case study wherein some of the basic processes underlying educational growth in states newly emerging from colonial rule are delineated.This is Volume III of eighteen in a series on the Sociology of Development. Originally published in 1965. As the first of the newly independent nations of Africa, Ghana has received fulsome attention from scholars in many fields. In this intensive case study on educational development by two principal considerations. The documentary materials relating to the earlier history of the Gold Coast and adjacent areas were unusually extensive and well organized. Ghana now possesses the most elaborated school system in sub-Saharan Africa. But the expansion of this system has given rise to many perplexing problems and revealed many unexpected consequences, and the author suggests that similar experiences will be the lot of many other countries, even outside Africa. So this is not just study of Ghanaian education alone but a case study wherein some of the basic processes underlying educational growth in states newly emerging from colonial rule are delineated.

The end of independent chieftaincy must be one of the most fundamental changes in the long history of Ghana, and one of the central achievements that Kwame Nkrumah and his movement brought about. Nkrumah & the Chiefs examines a radical nationalist government's attempts to destroy chieftaincy in Ghana. Richard Rathbone's pioneering work shows how chiefly resistance forced the government to seek control over rural areas by incorporating and redefining chieftaincy. Based primarily on previously unconsulted archival and other material in Ghana, Nkrumah & the Chiefs is a detailed analysis of this neglected side of Ghana's history.

Charismatic Christianity is the most recent and fastest growing expression of Pentecostal religion in Sub-Saharan Africa. In Ghana's capital, Accra, the charismatic churches dominate the religious scene. This book focuses on the gender discourses of Ghana's new churches, and considers charismatic perspectives on womanhood, manhood, marriage and family life. Offering a fresh perspective on the organisational structures of the charismatic churches, this study looks at the leadership roles of female pastors and pastors' wives, and draws attention to the links between female leaders and spiritual power. By highlighting the importance of spiritual power in interpreting gendered social change, the book sheds new light on the socio-cultural role of Ghana's new churches.

First Published in 1981, Ghana 1957-1966 presents a comprehensive overview of the period when the Convention People’s Party (CPP) ruled Ghana under a one party system. It covers the intricate relationship which grew up between CPP and the Civil Service in Ghana at national, regional, district and local levels. Dr Amonoo argues that the process of adapting the civil service institutions to the purposes and orientation of the CPP leadership was never completed, and that the result was a duality of institutions in the governmental administrative machinery. One was politically conditioned and orientated to serve the purposes of the CPP leadership, while the other remained rigidly bureaucratic and distant from the party. Both arrangements created problems for the CPP regime and thus it was that Ghanaian government and politics during this period lacked a single sense of purpose. The author stresses that the empirical realities need to be fully accounted in any attempt to explain government and politics of the CPP period. This book is a must read for scholars and researchers of African studies, African history, and African politics.