Territorialization by claims-making: evidence from region separation resistance in Ghana

Abstract

This study contributes to understanding territorialization, as the intersection between territoriality and citizenship, with claims-making as a mechanism. It applies a process tracing technique to analyse diverse qualitative data about a contentious 2018 referendum in Ghana to separate some of its regions. Through this, the study highlights three empirical features of territorialization. One is the strategies political parties adopted in their manifestos to enable them to claim credit for the region’s separation. Another is the historical connections that regionally based citizens made to contemporary issues to strengthen their claim over territorial matters. The third is the connections of solidarity that diaspora-based citizens made with the territorial issues raised by regionally based citizens.