Intra-party conflict and conflict resolution mechanisms within the two dominant political parties in Ghana

Abstract

The efforts to develop democracy and political party systems in Ghana and in most part of the African continent which have been witnessing a plethora of intra-party conflicts has undergone several transformations which made the intra-party conflicts occurring within the political parties gained certain criticality. This paper would explore the patterns of conflicts and cooperation within the two dominant political parties in Ghana’s fourth republic democratic dispensations, capitalizing on how the parties keep their unity and why they conflict. Having considered political parties as an endogenous product of both intra-party and inter-factional competitions, greater focus would be on the party’s organizational structures and the inbuilt mechanism for conflict resolutions. The paper is based on a single country case study which embraces several instances of intra party conflicts within the rank and files of the two dominant political parties in Ghana’s fourth republic. It revealed that the inefficiency of the disciplinary committees within the political parties to amicably settle the grievances within the parties in conjunction with the gross deficiency of internal democracy are the main culprits that explain the internal conflicts within the two dominant political parties in Ghana.