^{page 646 note 1} West Africa (London), 26 09 1977, p. 2008.Google Scholar

^{page 648 note 1} Edelman, Murray, The Symbolic Uses of Politics (Urbana, 1967), p. 11.Google Scholar

^{page 649 note 1} Evans-Pritchard, E. E., African Political Systems (New York and London, 1967), p. 17.Google Scholar

^{page 649 note 2} Mosse, George L., The Nationalization of the Masses: political symbolism and mass movements in Germany from the Napoleonic Wars through the Third Reich (New York, 1975), p. 20.Google Scholar

^{page 649 note 3} Edelman, , op. cit. p. 76.Google Scholar

^{page 649 note 4} Ibid. p. 9.

^{page 650 note 1} There is no general agreement over whether legitimacy should be defined in terms of public perceptions of propriety or some higher moral authority. The later view is argued by Schaar, John H., Political Legitimacy in the Modern State (New Brunswick, 1981), esp. ch. 1. We prefer the former view, as discussed below.Google Scholar

^{page 650 note 2} See, especially, Weber, Max, The Theory of Social and Economic Organization, translated by Henderson, A. M. and Parsons, Talcott (New York, 1947);Google ScholarHabermas, Jurgen, Legitimation Crisis (Boston, 1973);Google Scholar and Eckstein, Harry, Workshop Notes on Legitimacy, Princeton, 1967.Google Scholar

^{page 650 note 3} Eckstein, , op. cit.Google Scholar

^{page 650 note 4} Weber, , op. cit. p. 328.Google Scholar

^{page 650 note 5} Ibid.

^{page 650 note 6} Hayward, Fred M. and Hammergren, Linn A., ‘Legitimation and Support for Military Regimes: the cases of Ghana and Peru’, Joint Meeting of the African Studies Association and the Latin American Studies Association, Houston, Texas, November 1977, pp. 4–5.Google Scholar

^{page 652 note 1} Turner, Victor, The Drums of Affliction (Ithaca, N.Y., 1968), p. 1.Google Scholar

^{page 653 note 1} Such references by Acheampong were common in his early speeches. See West Africa, 18 August 1972, p. 1074, for an account of one in the Central Region.

^{page 653 note 2} Ibid. 17 September 1979, p. 1714.

^{page 653 note 3} For an excellent discussion of socialism in Africa, see Jowitt, Kenneth, ‘Scientific Socialist Regimes in Africa: political differentiation, avoidance, and unawareness’, in G, Carl G. and Thomas, M. Callaghy (eds.), Socialism in Sub-Saharan Africa: a new assessment (Berkeley, 1979), pp. 133–73. Jowitt downplays the importance of the symbolic uses of socialism and overlooks the possibility that the rhetoric reflects a realisation that both socio-economic and ideological commitment are problematic. What the rhetoric does is to suggest that there is a plan of action-that positive steps are being taken by the élite.Google Scholar

^{page 654 note 1} Afrifa, A. A., The Ghana Coup, 24th February 1966 (London, 1966).Google Scholar

^{page 654 note 2} West Africa, 27 August 1979, p. 1539–41.

^{page 654 note 3} Ibid. 17 September 1979, p. 1715.

^{page 654 note 4} Africa Magazine (London), 16 07 1979, p. 1272.Google Scholar

^{page 654 note 5} West Africa, 5 January 1981, review of Mike Oquaye, Politics of Ghana, pp. 23–4.

^{page 654 note 6} For more details, see Dumbuya, Ahmed R., ‘National Integration in Guinea and Sierra Leone’, Ph.D. thesis, University of Washington, 1974,Google Scholar and ‘The Emergence and Development of the PDG and the SLPP’, in The Journal of the Historical Society of Sierra Leone (Freetown), 1, 1, 01 1977, pp. 16–34.Google Scholar See also Touré, Ahmed S., L'Afrique et la révolution (Conakry), Vol. 13, 1963, pp. 59–61.Google Scholar

^{page 656 note 1} For another assessment of the Margai brothers, see Cartwright, John, Political Leadership in Sierra Leone (Toronto, 1978), ch. 4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

^{page 657 note 1} According to President Siaka Stevens, some citizens felt that since his picture was on the currency it was his to give out as he saw fit! Interview with Hayward, August 1981, Freetown.

^{page 657 note 2} Foltz, William J., ‘Senegal’, in Coleman, James S. and G, Carl G. Jr, (eds.), Political Parties and National Integration in Tropical Africa (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1964), p. 20.Google Scholar

^{page 658 note 1} Turner, Victor, Dramas, Fields, and Metaphors: symbolic action in human society (Ithaca, 1975), pp. 232–3.Google Scholar

^{page 660 note 1} Cox, Thomas S., Civil-Military Relations in Sierra Leone: a case study of African soldiers in politics (Cambridge, Mass., 1976), p. 143.Google Scholar

^{page 660 note 2} Ibid. p. 148.

^{page 660 note 3} Daily Mail (London), 1 04 1967.Google Scholar

^{page 660 note 4} Cox, , op. cit. p. 150.Google Scholar

^{page 661 note 1} West Africa, 18 February 1972, p. 202.

^{page 661 note 2} For further details, see Hayward, Fred M., ‘Perceptions of Well-Being in Ghana: 1970 and 1975’, in African Studies Review (Waltham, Mass.), XXII, 1, 04 1979, pp. 123–4.Google Scholar

^{page 662 note 1} Weber, , op. cit. pp. 363–9.Google Scholar

^{page 663 note 1} For an interesting analysis of the voting, see Chazan, Naomi and LeVine, Victor T., ‘Politics in a “Non-political” System: the March 30, 1978 Referendum in Ghana’, in African Studies Review, XXII, 1, 1979.Google Scholar

^{page 663 note 2} Sierra Leone: the path to one party system of government (Freetown, Government Printing Department, 1978), p. 26.Google Scholar

^{page 663 note 3} Interview by Hayward, , Freetown, August 1981.Google Scholar

^{page 664 note 1} Stevens, Siaka, as quoted in Sierra Leone, op. cit. p. 33.Google Scholar

^{page 664 note 2} Senghor's ‘Message au Congrès méditerranéen’, Florence, 1961, as quoted in Hymans, Jacques, Léopold Sédar Senghor: an intellectual biography (Edinburgh, 1971), p. 179.Google Scholar

^{page 664 note 3} Quoted in Markovitz, Irving, Léopold Sédar Senghor and the Politics of Négritude (New York, 1969), p. 33.Google Scholar

^{page 665 note 1} During the celebrations of Independence Day in Sierra Leone in 1981, the press was full of advertisements congratulating President Stevens, the All Peoples Congress, and the People, placed by private companies, government agencies, and Ministries.

^{page 666 note 1} Edelman, Murray, Politics as Symbolic Action: mass arousal and quiescence (Chicago, 1971), pp. 14–15.Google Scholar

^{page 666 note 2} Interview by Hayward, , August 1981, Freetown.Google Scholar

^{page 667 note 1} For a discussion of the political sophistication of the rural masses, see Hayward, Fred M., ‘A Reassessment of Conventional Wisdom About the Informed Public: national political information in Ghana’, in American Political Science Review (Washington, D.C.), 70, 2, 1976.Google Scholar

^{page 668 note 1} See Mosse, op. cit.

^{page 669 note 1} Abner Cohen's study of Sierra Leone Creoles analyses élite attempts to use symbolism to establish a normative culture which will strengthen their position; The Politics of Elite Culture (Berkeley, 1981).Google Scholar

^{page 669 note 2} Interview with President Stevens by Hayward, , June 1982, Freetown.Google Scholar

^{page 670 note 1} Edelman, , Politics as Symbolic Action, p. 128.Google Scholar

^{page 670 note 2} Eliade, Mircea, Cosmos and History: the myth of the eternal return (New York, 1954), p. 23.Google Scholar