Members of the University Community are hereby invited to an Inter-College Lecture to be delivered by Dr. Seidu Alidu from the Department of Political Science (College of Humanities) as follows:
Topic: Political parties’ vigilante groups and rationalism in Ghana’s electoral democracy
Date: 7th March, 2019
Time: 4.30 p.m.
Venue: ISSER Conference Hall
All are cordially invited
Abstract
Political party vigilantism has often been treated as a mere political phenomenon much to the neglect of the historical context and social structures that perpetuate them. It is underpinned by historical and social conditioning and the relationship needs to be explored and appreciated in order to deal with it. The social variable of political vigilantism is reinforced by rational calculation of the actors: in terms of the political benefit that will accrue to them but also the societal and state response to their actions. Where citizens seem to accept the actions of party vigilante groups as a norm rather than an exception to societal values and behaviour they are encouraged to carry on. Also, when a state’s response to party vigilante groups is politically-driven and hypocritical, it emboldens them to undermine the Constitution, disturb democratic norms and principles and compete with the state for the monopoly of violence. This has the potential of not only undermining democratic consolidation but also reversing democratic gains and hurting societal moral norms and values. This lecture will conduct a historical path tracing of the activities of vigilante groups in Ghana by examining the social and political structures that underpin them and the implication on governance.
