The politics of ethnicity and post-conflict reconstruction: The case of Northern Ghana

Abstract

Taking into account the complexity of contemporary ethnic conflicts, this article examines the construction and politicisation of ethnicity to understand a recent case of post-conflict reconstruction. More specifically, the article considers theories of post-conflict reconstruction, particularly the conflict transformation school that claims to respond to the hybrid nature of recent ethnic conflicts. By adopting a constructivist perspective, this article argues that post-conflict reconstruction in ethnically-fragmented areas is largely about the problem of de-politicising essentialist discourses of historically constructed ethnic identities. In order to explore this key theoretical issue, the article analyses the 1994-95 case of conflict and reconstruction in the Northern Region of Ghana. This analysis draws on archival research and 21 interviews with individuals representing nongovernmental organisations (NGOs), traditional authorities, religious leaders, opinion leaders, and the state conducted from August to October 2006 in Accra, the capital of Ghana, as well as Tamale, the capital of the Northern Region. Because very little research is available on post-conflict reconstruction in Northern Ghana, this analysis fills a major gap in the contemporary literature on ethnic conflict and post-conflict reconstruction in West Africa. At a broader level, the article suggests that contemporary theories of post-conflict reconstruction would gain from taking a more systematic look at the social and political construction of such identities.

Keywords:

• development
• ethnicity
• conflict
• peacebuilding
• reconstruction
• Ghana

Acknowledgements

Julie Kaye acknowledges support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). Daniel Béland acknowledges support form the Canada Research Chairs Program.

Notes

1. The literature that does exist comprises an ‘Oxfam Working Paper’ by Ada Van der Linde and Rachel Naylor (1999) and a chapter that illustrates the Nairobi Peace Initiative peacebuilding methodology by Assefa (2001), who was the Director of NPI at the time of the 1994-95 conflict. Also see Bogner's (1997) assessment of the security situation in Northern Ghana and Bogner (2000). For more general discussions of conflict and peacebuilding in Northern Ghana, see Fentiman (1995), Jönsson (2007), and Kirby (2003).

2. Like Horowitz (1998), Brubaker (2002) argues, ‘The intricate and ever-recommencing definitional casuistry in studies of ethnicity, race and nationalism has done little to advance the discussion, and indeed can be viewed as a symptom of the non-cumulative nature of research in the field’ (p.167).

3. On the idea of ‘social construction of reality’ at the heart of constructivism, see Berger and Luckmann (1967).

4. According to McAdam, Tarrow and Tilly (2001), ‘contentious politics’ refers to ‘collective political struggle’ that can lead to violent mobilisation, whereas ‘routine politics’ represents the necessary day-to-day governance that occurs under the guidance of stable institutional rules and basic social trust (p. 5).

5. Conceptual difficulties can obscure the terms ‘post-conflict’ and ‘reconstruction’. In the first case, the line between ‘conflict’ and ‘post-conflict’ is extremely imprecise. However, as Fischer (2006) highlights, a useful definition will ‘encompass a wide range of post-conflict scenarios ranging from continued low-intensity conflict to a fragile peace to a settled conflict’ (p. 3). In this study, we refer to post-conflict in this broad sense. Reconstruction is also used broadly to refer to both the physical rebuilding and the moral reconciliation that takes place, successfully or not, in societies faced with post-conflict realities.

6. For examples of a conflict settlement approach see Bercovitch (Bercovitch 1984, Bercovitch 1996); Fischer and Ury (1981); (Zartman 1985, Zartman 1995).

7. For a conflict resolution approach see Ronald Fisher (1983, 1997) and Kumar Rupesinghe (1995).

8. See, for example, Curle (1971); Galtung (1996); Lederach (1995, 1997).

9. As Skalník (1986) highlights, the Konkomba did not exist as a unified society bound together by a single institutional head. Rather, ‘until recently they were different groupings each speaking different dialects of the Konkomba language and often fighting each other’ (Skalník 1986, 93). At the same time, the Konkombas were not entirely acephalous; rather, ‘they had political heads and could organise themselves for war’ (Kirby 2003, 161).

10. Tindamba is the plural form of tindana (Staniland 1975).

11. Pito refers to a locally brewed alcoholic beverage made from guinea corn and is common in Northern Ghana where the crop is readily available.

12. For further descriptions of the 1994-5 conflict also see:Assefa (2001); Bogner (2000); Kirby (2003); and van der Linde and Naylor (1999).

13. Within three days, the following seven districts were overcome by violent ethnic conflict: Nanumba, East Gonja, West Dagomba, East Dagomba, Zabzugu-Tatale, Saboba-Chereponi, and Gushiegu-Karaga.

14. For a discussion about the concept of groupness see Brubaker (2002).