ABSTRACT
Ghana’s emergence on the African political scene in 1957 was greeted with considerable fanfare and followed with intense interest. Twenty-five years later it appeared that the same Ghana was on the verge of receding into veritable political oblivion. To begin to comprehend the intricacies of Ghanaian political experiences in an environment of economic and political flux, it is necessary from the outset to go beyond stringent definitions of the political and to expand the terms of analysis and exchange generally associated with the sphere of politics in Ghana. This involves, in the first instance, a reconceptualization of the units of political analysis. Ghanaian politics have fluctuated within an externally and culturally determined range characterized by ambiguities, dependencies, and uncertainties. Understanding the main features of these events, how people have responded to them, what the results are, and what modifications are taking place is no easy task.
