ABSTRACT
Possibilities for the creation of an expanding and escalating spiral of violence were graphically demonstrated in the period of intense political activity between 1972 and 1978. If state-society relations during the Busia era can be understood in terms of the process of consolidation of an ethnically inclined ruling coalition and the subsequent disaffection which led to the creation of fragmented embedment, these interactions during the Acheampong period took on different, and more complex, forms. It is possible to isolate four distinct phases in the interplay of state and society at this juncture. The first was one of corporate interaction around a carefully devised center of political gravity. The second, following the consolidation of the SMC’s coercive apparatus, was marked by the rapid aggregation of dissent. The third phase, during the Union Government debate and referendum, highlighted communal confrontation and violent struggles for control of state power. The last months of Acheampong’s overrule constituted a fourth period of fragmentation and virtual disintegration.
