Beneath politicization
The unacknowledged constitutional crisis in the Dagbon succession conflict in Ghana
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 14799771 |
|---|---|
| Authors | M H A Bolaji (0000-0002-2760-7107, University for Development Studies, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2016 |
| Volume | 48 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 273-301 |
| Publication date | 2016-05-03 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0732-9113 • E-ISSN: 2305-9931 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/07329113.2016.1182411 |
| OpenAlex | W2395237787 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 29 |
The Dagbon succession conflict has been intermittent since the colonial era. What appears to be the most trumpeted thesis in the scholarly works that the conflict has attracted is the over-politicization of the conflict. While the over-politicization of the conflict is indisputable, this study uncovers the constitutional crisis, which is beneath and motivates the over-politicization of the conflict. Through a critical content analysis of archival and historical documents (commission reports, letters, petitions, minutes, and court rulings, among others), and through secondary data from books, journal articles, and newspapers (both print and electronic), the paper identifies and explores three principal sources of the constitutional crisis, namely, the inadequacy of the 1930 Dagomba Succession Constitution, the lack of legitimacy for the 1948 Amended Dagomba Succession Constitution, and the state's interventions that have deepened the constitutional crisis. Having explained how legal centralism and legal pluralism have been implicated in the conflict, the paper concludes with a dispassionate call for a transformation of the conflict that will acknowledge the constitutional character of the conflict and the need to convene a constitutional conference in which the two royal gates would harmonize their emic perspectives on their succession customs and rules
Centralized government · Commission · Conflict transformation · Constitution · Constitutional crisis · Ecological succession · Legitimacy · Newspaper · Pluralism (philosophy · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · State (computer science · Judicial and Constitutional Studies · Land Rights and Reforms · Law · Legal Issues in South Africa
Nkrumah & the chiefs
States and Power in Africa: Comparative Lessons in Authority and Control
The manipulation of tradition
Colonialism and the Two Publics in Africa
Conflict Transformation
Asian and African Studies
From Administrative to Civil Chieftaincy
What is Legal Pluralism
Chieftaincy in Ghana
The More the Merrier? A New Take on Legal Pluralism
Demise or resilience? Customary law and chieftaincy in twenty-first century Botswana
From ‘Owo Crisis’ to ‘Dagbon Dispute’
States and Chiefs
Traditional Authority at the Crossroads of Governance in Republican Cameroon
Chieftaincy and the Negotiation of Might and Right in Botswana Democracy
Conflict transformation in South Africa
Chiefs and Politicians
Chieftaincy, Diaspora, and Development
Death of a king, death of a kingdom? Social pluralism and succession to high office in Dagbon, northern Ghana
Patterns and Theories of Traditional Resurgence in Tropical Africa
The Lions of Dagbon
Chieftaincy and the State in Abacha's Nigeria
Rural 'Community', Chiefs and Social Capital
The Yendi Chieftaincy Dispute and Ghanaian Politics
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,33 |
| Citation span | 2023 - 2023 (1) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |