The Negative Implications of Adversarialism and Politics of Insult in Ghana: An Overview

Abstract

The competitiveness of political contest is not in itself a bad thing; but the extremity of it–the “hyper-competitiveness”, in an attempt to attain the ultimate goal of political mandate in order to control the coercive apparatus of the state is both precarious and deadly. The paper sought to identify and discuss the nature of politics (adversarial politics) in Ghana. This article further identified the causes of adversarialism in Ghanaian politics and its negative implications on the future democracy in Ghana. Finally, the write-up proffers some recommendations that will go a long way to enhance the serenity of Ghanaian politics. However, the paper dwells more on the illustrations of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) since they have remained the most dominant in the Fourth Republic of Ghana.

Keywords: Ghana, Adversarialism, Politics of insult, Democracy and competition, and Political Parties.