Threat of political vigilantism to political security in Africa: a case of Ghana

Ghana is gradually building a political culture that seems to support political vigilantism. This is because the activities of vigilante groups have assumed a cyclonic nature. This study, therefore, seeks to assess the threat of political vigilantism to political security in Ghana and the roles of s...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Emmanuel Papa Bentil, Isaac Nunoo, Maxwell Oduro Appiah
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2024-12-01
Series:Cogent Social Sciences
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/23311886.2024.2384184
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849233794050031616
author Emmanuel Papa Bentil
Isaac Nunoo
Maxwell Oduro Appiah
author_facet Emmanuel Papa Bentil
Isaac Nunoo
Maxwell Oduro Appiah
author_sort Emmanuel Papa Bentil
collection DOAJ
description Ghana is gradually building a political culture that seems to support political vigilantism. This is because the activities of vigilante groups have assumed a cyclonic nature. This study, therefore, seeks to assess the threat of political vigilantism to political security in Ghana and the roles of state and non-state actors in all of this. It explores the sources and the motivations for acts of political vigilantism and addresses the threat of political vigilantism to political security in Ghana. It also analyses the implications of political vigilantism on security issues and Ghana’s global image. Lastly, it discusses the roles of state and non-state actors in mitigating the threat of political vigilantism to political security. Relying on interviews and documents, the study demonstrates that unemployment and the vulnerability of the youth, mutual suspicion among the political actors, and low confidence in state institutions motivate political vigilantism in Ghana. Political vigilantism is also found to have strong association with clientelism in Ghana. It is recommended that both state and non-state actors adopt a broad-based approach to confront the problem frontally.
format Article
id doaj-art-94dc96ddf343480fb7ed9cea954ff906
institution Kabale University
issn 2331-1886
language English
publishDate 2024-12-01
publisher Taylor & Francis Group
record_format Article
series Cogent Social Sciences
spelling doaj-art-94dc96ddf343480fb7ed9cea954ff9062025-08-20T04:03:25ZengTaylor & Francis GroupCogent Social Sciences2331-18862024-12-0110110.1080/23311886.2024.2384184Threat of political vigilantism to political security in Africa: a case of GhanaEmmanuel Papa Bentil0Isaac Nunoo1Maxwell Oduro Appiah2Centre for African and International Studies, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, GhanaCentre for African and International Studies, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, GhanaCentre for African and International Studies, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, GhanaGhana is gradually building a political culture that seems to support political vigilantism. This is because the activities of vigilante groups have assumed a cyclonic nature. This study, therefore, seeks to assess the threat of political vigilantism to political security in Ghana and the roles of state and non-state actors in all of this. It explores the sources and the motivations for acts of political vigilantism and addresses the threat of political vigilantism to political security in Ghana. It also analyses the implications of political vigilantism on security issues and Ghana’s global image. Lastly, it discusses the roles of state and non-state actors in mitigating the threat of political vigilantism to political security. Relying on interviews and documents, the study demonstrates that unemployment and the vulnerability of the youth, mutual suspicion among the political actors, and low confidence in state institutions motivate political vigilantism in Ghana. Political vigilantism is also found to have strong association with clientelism in Ghana. It is recommended that both state and non-state actors adopt a broad-based approach to confront the problem frontally.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/23311886.2024.2384184Political vigilantismpolitical securityvigilante groupsstate actorsnon-state actorscivil society organizations
spellingShingle Emmanuel Papa Bentil
Isaac Nunoo
Maxwell Oduro Appiah
Threat of political vigilantism to political security in Africa: a case of Ghana
Cogent Social Sciences
Political vigilantism
political security
vigilante groups
state actors
non-state actors
civil society organizations
title Threat of political vigilantism to political security in Africa: a case of Ghana
title_full Threat of political vigilantism to political security in Africa: a case of Ghana
title_fullStr Threat of political vigilantism to political security in Africa: a case of Ghana
title_full_unstemmed Threat of political vigilantism to political security in Africa: a case of Ghana
title_short Threat of political vigilantism to political security in Africa: a case of Ghana
title_sort threat of political vigilantism to political security in africa a case of ghana
topic Political vigilantism
political security
vigilante groups
state actors
non-state actors
civil society organizations
url https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/23311886.2024.2384184
work_keys_str_mv AT emmanuelpapabentil threatofpoliticalvigilantismtopoliticalsecurityinafricaacaseofghana
AT isaacnunoo threatofpoliticalvigilantismtopoliticalsecurityinafricaacaseofghana
AT maxwelloduroappiah threatofpoliticalvigilantismtopoliticalsecurityinafricaacaseofghana