Seminar paper from the year 2018 in the subject Politics - Region: Africa, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, language: English, abstract: This text tries to determine what factors accounted for the emergence, escalation and protracted nature of the dispute between the Gonjas and the Nawuris. Moreover, it looks at the efforts that have been made to resolve the conflict and how they have been implemented. This also raises the questions of why the conflict remains intractable notwithstanding attempts made to resolve it and how the conflict can be settled for peaceful co-existence in the area. Conflict is as old as the human society or human race. People have disputed and competed against one another over scarce commodities, land, power, resources, and ideology and sometime religion. Conflict in teams or in groups is inevitable. This means that at any point in time people are bound to disagree over issues. There is no human ability that can predetermine the results of these conflicts. Conflict when not properly addressed may escalate to negative impacts which include civil war, better still if addressed, it can lead to positive relations geared towards development. In view of this, Awedoba defined conflict as a clash of ideas, wills, interests or opinions a relationship between two or more parties that center on differences, disagreements, incompatibilities. Most of these conflicts are within state as opposed to interstate and often occur between ethnic groups. Looking at conflict as a struggle or contest between people with opposing needs, ideas, beliefs, values, or goals, there is the need to examine the nature and type of conflict that existed at a particular place within a period of time. To this far, Corser describes conflict as "a struggle over values, claims to status, power, and scarce resources in which the aims of the opposing parties are not only to the desired values but also to neutralize, injure, or eliminate rivals". Most of these conflicts are ethnic in nature which makes people to see themselves as one with common interests and values thereby pushing further.

Conflict in Northern Ghana appears to be increasing in amplitude and frequency and its effects are getting more devastating. It is the view of this book that The Government of Ghana and civil society organisations involved in aspects of conflict management have approached peace issues in the region with an inadequate understanding of the local issues that divide and unite the people, or using sufficient resources to pre-emt conflict. In 2003 The Mole V summit was held in Damongo to discuss strategic directions for comprehensive development and poverty reduction in Northern Ghana as a mechanism for supporting conflict management. It is the aim of this publication to contribute to the proposed plan by suggesting past and current conflict management resources and mechanisms which could be employed. The suggestions are informed by surveys, which are oulined in the book, of particular conflicts in the three northern Regions of Ghana between 2006 and 2008 - their histories, causes and efforts and their resolution.

Although African ethnicity has become a highly fertile field of enquiry in recent years, most of the research is concentrated on southern and central Africa, and has passed Ghana by. This volume extends many of the distilled insights, but also modifies them in the light of the Ghanaian evidence. The collection is multidisciplinary in scope and spans the pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial contexts. A central contention of the volume is that, while there were significant regional variations, ethnicity was not purely a colonial `invention'. The boundaries of `we-groups' have constantly mutated from pre-colonial times, while European categorization owed much to indigenous ways of seeing. The contributors explore the role of European administrators and recruitment officers as well as African cultural brokers in shaping new identities. The interaction of gender and ethnic consciousness is explicitly addressed. The volume also examines the formulation of the national question in Ghana today - in debates over language policy and conflicts over land and chieftaincy.

Chieftaincy is one of the most enduring traditional institutions in Ghana, which has displayed remarkable resilience from pre-colonial through colonial to postcolonial times. In the past, the role of a chief was to lead his people in war to defend, protect and extend their territories. The modern role is to combat poverty and other social ills: illiteracy, ignorance, environmental degradation, and the depletion of resources. Nowadays, chiefs are under pressure to achieve good governance in their traditional areas. They are challenged to integrate tradition and modernity, a process about which there is considerable debate. They carry out their duties in an increasingly globalised world where the accent is on democracy, human rights, health delivery, employment, human development and regional integration. Their ability to come to terms with these challenges will provide an indication of their relevance and the relevance of the institution to Ghana?s long-term development. This massive volume is arguably the most comprehensive and detailed scholarly study of the institution of chieftaincy to appear on the subject to date. The subjects and approaches are wide- ranging, and cover most aspects of the institution in every geographical area in Ghana. Some thirty contributors from the humanities and social sciences tell the story of chieftaincy past and present from a multitude of perspectives: anthropological, historical, economic, sociological, gender, literary, religious and philosophical.

The subjects of ethnicity and collective belonging have enjoyed high priority on the agenda for social science research over the last 20 years. This volume focuses on research on the perspectives and biographical experiences of concrete 'historical' actors within the contexts of migration, cultural diversity and social conflicts.

Bibliogr.: p. [203]-218. - Met bijl., Nederlandse samenvatting, noten.

With Ghana's colonial and postcolonial politics as a backdrop, this book explores the ways in which historically marginalized communities have defined and redefined themselves to protect their interests and compete politically and economically with neighbouring ethnic groups.

This book comprises a rich range of empirical investigations from the Global south highlighting dynamic relationships between local struggles, and global political and economic power, and which are explained with ideas developed by the pioneering anthropologist Eric R. Wolf.