Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-lnqnp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T16:48:50.609Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

‘Monkeys play by sizes’: the reconstruction of military hierarchy in Ghana's armed forces

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 November 2021

Humphrey Asamoah Agyekum
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Ghana's post-independence era has been shaped by a series of coups and numerous attempted military interventions. While the involvement of the Ghana Armed Forces in politics has received widespread academic attention, the detrimental effects of these events on the military as an institution remain largely understudied. Using the coups of 1979 and 1981 as a point of departure, the article explores from an institutional perspective how the disruption of the everyday in the Ghanaian barracks resulted in the temporal breakdown of discipline and the collapse of military hierarchy. The article further examines the measures taken by the Provisional National Defence Council junta to rebuild and nurture hierarchy following its breakdown. It is also argued that restoration of hierarchy in the Ghanaian barracks called not only for an appeal to soldierly values, such as respect for rank and authority, but also for dramatic performances of authority and military hierarchy. The article depicts hierarchy in various settings, while exploring how the military order is expressed and lived in the current constellation. In short, the article not only illustrates a historical evolution, but also demonstrates that the maintenance of order and hierarchy in a closed institution such as the military is an ongoing and continuous negotiation process.

Résumé

Résumé

La période post-indépendance du Ghana a été marquée par une série de coups d’État et de nombreuses tentatives d'intervention militaire. Alors que l'implication des forces armées ghanéennes dans les affaires politiques a fait l'objet de nombreuses recherches, les effets négatifs de ces événements sur l'armée en tant qu'institution restent largement négligés dans les études. Utilisant comme point de départ les coups d’État de 1979 et de 1981, l'article explore d'un point de vue institutionnel comment la perturbation du quotidien dans les casernes ghanéennes a entraîné une dégradation temporelle de la discipline et l'effondrement de la hiérarchie militaire. Il examine plus en détail les mesures prises par la junte militaire (Provisional National Defence Council) pour reconstruire et cultiver la hiérarchie après son effondrement. Il soutient également que la restauration de la hiérarchie dans les casernes ghanéennes a demandé non seulement de faire appel aux valeurs de soldat, telles que le respect du rang et de l'autorité, mais aussi à l'exercice spectaculaire de l'autorité et de la hiérarchie militaire. L'article décrit la hiérarchie dans différentes situations, tout en explorant comment l'ordre militaire s'exprime et se vit dans la constellation actuelle. En bref, il illustre une évolution historique, mais il démontre aussi que le maintien de l'ordre et de la hiérarchie dans une institution fermée comme l'armée est un processus de négociation continu.

Type
Military hierarchy in Ghana's army
Information
Africa , Volume 91 , Issue 5 , November 2021 , pp. 874 - 892
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abdullah, I. (1998) ‘Bush path to destruction: the origin and character of the Revolutionary United Front/Sierra Leone’, Journal of Modern African Studies 36 (2): 203–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aboagye, F. B. (1999) The Ghana Army: a concise contemporary guide to its centennial regimental history, 1897–1999. Accra: Sedco Publishing.Google Scholar
Addae, K. S. (2005) A Short History of Ghana Armed Forces. Accra: Ministry of Defence, Ghana Armed Forces.Google Scholar
Agyekum, H. A. (2019a) From Bullies to Officers and Gentlemen: how notions of professionalism and civility transformed the Ghana Armed Forces. Oxford and New York NY: Berghahn Books.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Agyekum, H. A. (2019b) ‘The rise and demise of the Boys’ Company: from coup makers to a footnote in Ghana's political history’, Journal of African Military History 3: 33–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arkin, W. and Dobrofsky, L. R. (1978) ‘Military socialization and masculinity’, Journal of Social Issues 34 (1): 151–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Atkinson, R. and Flint, J. (2001) ‘Accessing hidden and hard to reach populations: snowball research strategies’, Social Research Update 33: 1–4.Google Scholar
Bascom, W. R. (1942) ‘The principle of seniority in the social structure of the Yoruba’, American Anthropologist 44: 37–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baynham, S. (1994) ‘The Gold Coast military forces: origins, composition and structure’. Occasional Paper 59. Pretoria: Africa Institute of South Africa.Google Scholar
Bourdieu, P. (1995) Outline of a Theory of Practice. Translated by Nice, R.. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Das, V. (1995) Critical Events: an anthropological perspective on contemporary India. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Dearborn Spindler, G. (1949) ‘The military: a systematic analysis’, Social Forces 27 (1): 83–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
de Certeau, M. (1984) The Practice of Everyday Life. Berkeley CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Dumont, L. (1970) Homo Hierarchicus. Translated by Weidenfeld, G.. Chicago IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
First, R. (1970) The Barrel of a Gun: political power in Africa and the coup d'état. London: Penguin Books..Google Scholar
Furet, F. (1988) Revolutionary France: a history of France. Translated by Nevill, A.. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Gamst, F. C. (2001) ‘Craft seniority: the essence of the “rail” world’, Anthropology of Work Review 22 (4): 21–4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goffman, E. (1961) Asylums: essay on the social situation of mental patients and other inmates. New York NY: Anchor Books.Google Scholar
Hamilton, L. V. (1986) ‘Chains of command: responsibility attribution in hierarchies’, Journal of Applied Social Psychology 16 (2): 118–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hoffman, D. (2006) ‘Disagreement: dissent politics and the war in Sierra Leone’, Africa Today 52 (3): 3–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huntington, S. P. (1957) The Soldier and the State: the theory and politics of civil–military relations. Cambridge MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Hutchful, E. (1997) ‘Military policy and reform in Ghana’, Journal of Modern African Studies 35 (2): 251–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jaffe, A. (1984) ‘The negotiation of meaning in the military’, Central Issues in Anthropology 5 (2): 31–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Janowitz, M. (1960) The Professional Soldier: a social and political portrait. New York NY and London: The Free Press.Google Scholar
Janowitz, M. and Little, R. W. (1974) ‘Hierarchy and authority’ in Janowitz, M. and Little, R. W. (eds), Sociology and the Military Establishment. Beverly Hills CA and London: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Lane, D. (2006) ‘Hierarchy, complexity, society’ in Pumain, D. (ed.), Hierarchy in Natural and Social Sciences. Dordrecht: Springer.Google Scholar
Luhmann, N. (2006) ‘Systems as difference’, Organization 13 (1): 37–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marcus, G. (1995) ‘Ethnography in/of the world system: the emergence of multi-sited ethnography’, Annual Review of Anthropology 24: 95–117.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nugent, P. (1995) Big Men, Small Boys and Politics in Ghana: power, ideology and the burden of history: 1982–1994. Westport CT and London: Praeger Publishers.Google Scholar
Nukunya, G. K. (2003) Tradition and Change in Ghana: an introduction to sociology. Accra: Ghana Universities Press.Google Scholar
Oquaye, M. (2004) Politics in Ghana 1982–1992: Rawlings, revolution and populist democracy. Accra and New Delhi: Tornado Publications.Google Scholar
Pumain, D. (2006) ‘Introduction’ in Pumain, D. (ed.), Hierarchy in Natural and Social Sciences. Dordrecht: Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Soeters, J. L., Winslow, D. J. and Weibull, A. (2006) ‘Military culture’ in Caforio, G. (ed.), Handbook of the Sociology of the Military. Dordrecht: Springer.Google Scholar
Thornton, P. H., Lounsbury, M. and Ocasio, W. (2012) ‘Introduction to the institutional logics perspective’ in Thornton, P. H., Lounsbury, M. and Ocasio, W. (eds), The Institutional Logics Perspective: a new approach to culture, structure and process. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wulff, H. (2000) ‘Access to a closed world: methods for a multilocale study on ballet as a career’ in Amit, V. (ed.), Constructing the Field: ethnographic fieldwork in the contemporary world. London and New York NY: Routledge.Google Scholar