Student activism and democratic quality in Ghana’s Fourth Republic

Abstract

Student activism has been pivotal in Ghana’s political and democratic history. Prior toGhana’s Fourth Republic, student activism was highly confrontational and entailed studentsupport or opposition to the various regimes depending on the extent to which theregimes were accepted by all as being rightful or legitimate. After 23 years of uninterruptedconstitutional democracy, Ghana has earned the accolade of being a successful electoraldemocracy. However, in terms of democratic progression, the mere conduct of periodicelections that sometimes lead to alternation of power is described as elementary and alow quality democracy. Given that Ghana’s democratisation process since 1992 has notbeen static, some remarkable strides have been made in improving the nation’s democraticquality. Using a purely qualitative research design and interviews with some former studentactivists, this study argues that the modest strides made in the quest for high qualityliberal democracy in Ghana cannot be meaningfully discussed without acknowledgingthe invaluable contributions of student activism. The study further suggests a relationshipbetween democratic quality and student activism. It postulates that the shift from theusually oppositional and sometimes violent student activism in Ghana’s Fourth Republiccould partially be attributed to the country’s strides made in the drive towards democraticmaturity. For students to continue their role as vanguards of democracy in Ghana, the studyrecommends an amalgamation of all tertiary networks and other student splinter groupsunder the National Union of Ghana Students; and a shift in the modus operandi of theUnion from confrontation to the use of dialogue and other peaceful democratic means toachieve its objectives. This could contribute to the restoration of the Union’s former gloryas a united, national and independent mouth-piece of students in all national issues.