Democracy and Social Movement Learning in Ghana: Reflections on 15 years of learning in the democratic terrain by Ghanaian Activist-Educators “No Way!” Demo, Ablade Glover (1999) Jonathan Langdon Department of Integrated Studies in Education McGill University, Montreal August, 2009 A Thesis Submitted To McGill University In Partial Fulfillment Of The Requirements Of The Degree Of Doctor of Philosophy © Jonathan Langdon, 2009 TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................. I LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................... V LIST OF FIGURES & EXCERPTS............................................................................... V ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.......................................................................................... VII ABSTRACT....................................................................................................................... 1 RESUMÉ ........................................................................................................................... 2 CHAPTER 1 – INTRODUCTION .................................................................................. 3 “MAKING THE ROAD TOGETHER THROUGH WALKING”: RELATIONSHIPS BEHIND THE RESEARCH .......................................................................................................................... 9 RESEARCH PURPOSE AND OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY................................................... 15 WHY THIS RESEARCH IS IMPORTANT ............................................................................. 19 STRUCTURE OF THE DOCUMENT..................................................................................... 22 DEFINITION OF KEY TERMS............................................................................................ 27 CHAPTER 2 – METHODOLOGY............................................................................... 29 EXPLANATORY NOTE: ..................................................................................................... 29 INTRODUCTION:............................................................................................................... 29 ACTIVIST-EDUCATORS .................................................................................................... 31 OUR PARTICIPATORY RESEARCH GROUP: ........................................................................ 35 THE WIDER NETWORK OF ACTIVIST-EDUCATORS.............................................................. 38 METHODOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS .......................................................................... 39 PARTICIPATORY RESEARCH LEADING TO ACTION: A VARIATION ON PAR................ 41 (CRITICAL) DISCOURSE ANALYSIS................................................................................. 46 NARRATIVE RESTORYING............................................................................................... 50 i JUSTIFICATION FOR MERGING PARTICIPATORY RESEARCH LEADING TO ACTION WITH A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF DISCOURSE AND NARRATIVE RESTORYING ......................... 53 STUDYING GHANAIAN SOCIAL MOVEMENTS: PARTICIPATORY RESEARCH LEADING TO ACTION WITH MOVEMENT ACTIVIST-EDUCATORS................................................. 56 PHASE ONE: RESEARCH DESIGN ....................................................................................... 57 PHASE TWO: RESEARCH VALIDATION .............................................................................. 59 PHASE THREE: INTERVIEWS OF WIDER NETWORK OF ACTIVIST-EDUCATORS................. 62 PHASE FOUR: PARTICIPATORY RESEARCH GROUP RETREAT ........................................... 66 PHASE FIVE: ACTION EMERGING FROM RESEARCH.......................................................... 66 POTENTIAL LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY...................................................................... 67 NOT PARTICIPATORY ENOUGH .......................................................................................... 67 TOO WIDE A FOCUS ........................................................................................................... 68 BASED TOO FIRMLY ON RELATIONSHIPS ........................................................................... 69 THE DISSERTATION FORM AND PARTICIPATORY RESEARCH DO NOT MATCH.................... 70 TOO FOCUSED ON ACTIVIST-EDUCATORS.......................................................................... 70 INTERVIEW FORMAT MAY NOT GET AT THE “HOW” OF SOCIAL MOVEMENT DYNAMICS... 71 CHAPTER 3 - WHAT DEMOCRACY MEANS AND WHAT IT COULD MEAN IN GHANA ...................................................................................................................... 72 EXPLANATORY NOTE: ..................................................................................................... 72 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................ 72 PERSPECTIVES ON GHANA’S RETURN TO DEMOCRACY ................................................ 73 A CELEBRATION OF GHANA’S RE-DEMOCRATIZATION ................................................ 75 CRITICAL REFLECTIONS ON GHANA’S FORM OF DEMOCRACY .................................... 77 GHANA’S RETURN TO DEMOCRACY AND THE MOVEMENT THAT PRECIPITATED IT.... 78 CELEBRATIONS OF DEMOCRACY IN AFRICA ................................................................. 88 CRITICAL VIEWS ON DEMOCRACY: IMPOSITIONS AND ECONOMIC TRANSNATIONAL GOVERNMENT(RE)ALITY................................................................................................. 96 ALTERNATIVE MEANING OF DEMOCRACY ................................................................... 104 “YOU SPEAK AND THEN I SPEAK.”................................................................................... 105 DEMOCRACY AS CONTESTATION, NOT JUST CONTESTED ELECTIONS ............................. 109 CONCLUSION.................................................................................................................. 110 ii CHAPTER 4 – GHANAIAN SOCIAL MOVEMENT CONTESTATION AND NEGOTIATION IN THE 4TH REPUBLIC .............................................................. 112 EXPLANATORY NOTE: ................................................................................................... 112 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................. 113 THE USES AND ABUSES OF CIVIL SOCIETY...................................................................... 113 SOCIAL MOVEMENT STUDIES IN AFRICA AND BEYOND ............................................... 116 CONTEMPORARY THEORIES ............................................................................................ 119 OSM AND NSM: COUNTER VS. ANTI-HEGEMONY........................................................... 122 POST-COLONIAL RE-ARTICULATIONS: MOVING BEYOND THE OSM/NSM DICHOTOMY. 124 GHANAIAN SOCIAL MOVEMENTS AND DYNAMICS OF CONTESTATION AND NEGOTIATION................................................................................................................. 129 OVERVIEW OF MOVEMENT INFORMATION .................................................................. 131 PEOPLE WITH DISABILITY MOVEMENT........................................................................... 131 WOMEN’S MOVEMENT .................................................................................................... 135 ANTI-NEOLIBERAL MOVEMENTS..................................................................................... 143 ANTI-MINING MOVEMENT ............................................................................................... 152 SOCIAL MOVEMENTS IN GHANA: HEURISTIC TYPOLOGIES THAT EMERGED FROM PR PROCESS ......................................................................................................................... 156 POST-COLONIAL INFLECTIONS OF “OLD” AND “NEW” MOVEMENT LABELS.................... 157 MOVEMENT TYPOLOGIES BASED ON ORGANIZATION, COMMUNICATION AND LEARNING PATTERNS..................................................................................................... 158 STRATEGIC/DIDACTIC MOVEMENT EXAMPLE: THE WOMEN’S MOVEMENT .................... 165 COMMUNICATIVE/DIALOGUE-BASED MOVEMENT EXAMPLE: THE ANTI-MINING MOVEMENT...................................................................................................................... 168 CONCLUDING THOUGHTS: CONTRIBUTIONS OF GHANAIAN SOCIAL MOVEMENT DYNAMICS TO SOCIAL MOVEMENT THEORY ................................................................ 172 MOVEMENTS AND LEADERSHIP: OLD SOCIAL MOVEMENT INFLECTIONS....................... 173 POWER IN AND BETWEEN MOVEMENTS: POSTMODERN RADICAL PLURALISM RECONFIGURED ............................................................................................................... 176 LEARNING AS WAY TO DIFFERENTIATE MOVEMENT DYNAMICS ..................................... 178 CHAPTER 5 – GHANAIAN SOCIAL MOVEMENT LEARNING IN THE 4TH REPUBLIC.................................................................................................................... 181 iii EXPLANATORY NOTE: ................................................................................................... 181 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................. 181 SOCIAL MOVEMENT LEARNING ..................................................................................