14:00 - 15:30
Room: Arts – Lecture Room 7
Stream: African Law in Historical, Comparative and International Perspective
Law as a Tool of Social Change in the Pluralistic Legal Cultural Context of Ghana
Samuel KB Asante
University of Ghana, Accra

In this paper, I propose to examine what appears to be a self-evident proposition that law is a tool of social change. Most people accept this proposition as axiomatic. Advocates of social change, whether they are politicians, social activists, opinion leaders, religious bodies and ordinary citizens pressing for urgent eradication of perceived social ills, all invariably, assume that law is an obvious and efficacious instrument of social change. Drawing on a range of legal theories and focused on developments in Ghanaian constitutional law, particularly with reference to women’s rights, I query this unqualified faith.

While there are many examples of the efficacy of law in this regard, it has its limitations as an instrument of change, and that over reliance on legal techniques clearly narrows our prospects of effective change. Other factors such as education, social campaigns, and crusades by churches must also be regarded as instruments of social change in certain cases. Where law is considered appropriate, recourse to law should be preceded by careful study of the social ills to be addressed, a meaningful structuring of the law to be employed, and a viable system of monitoring and implementing the law.

Furthermore, criminalization is not necessarily the most effective legal technique for social change. The failure of criminalization compels us to explore other legal techniques, which do not rely exclusively on the threat of sanctions, but on the essential viability and acceptability of the changes introduced. My address also emphasizes the importance of interdisciplinary approaches to the solution of social problems. Law as a tool of social change is too important to be left to lawyers alone.

The pluralism of our legal system also calls for some restraint in invoking the national legislature in addressing a peculiarly local or ethnic practice, where non-state authorities or bodies could exert the necessary pressure to effect a change. In this respect, the question may be raised as to which forum is most appropriate for solving an identified social problem.

The experience of the Turkish leader, Attaturk who sought to westernize his country by one stroke of sweeping legislation is an eloquent reminder that social change cannot be effected by legislative fiat. Whilst endorsing the standards enunciated in Ghana’s Constitution, we should recognize that the implementation of the solemn tenets of the Constitution involves an elaborate process of consultation, education and consensus building and not the imposition of laws by the political or social elites.


Reference:
Tu-A12 Constitutions, Law and Justice 2-P-003
Presenter/s:
Samuel KB Asante
Presentation type:
Panel
Room:
Arts – Lecture Room 7
Date:
Tuesday, 11 September
Time:
14:30 - 14:45
Session times:
14:00 - 15:30