ABSTRACT

If the 1966 and 1972 military coups established a tradition that only generals and colonels make coups, the 1979 military revolt led by Fit. Lt. Rawlings suggests that flight lieutenants, sergeants and corporals can also make them. After ruling for a brief period, Rawlings handed power over to civilian politicians in 1979 only to take it back again in 1981. From 1979 to 1983, Ghanaians witnessed a radical and violent attempt at the revolutionary transformation of their society. Since 1983, however, Ghana, under Rawlings, has settled for the most conservative economic policies ever implemented in the country's postcolonial development history.