Moving in Cycles: Explaining the Failure of Militarization to Address Illegal Mining in Ghana

ABSTRACT Mining contributes to Ghana's economic growth but also imposes significant social costs—land dispossession and unemployment—which have fueled the rise of illegal mining (galamsey). Galamsey, which intensified during the commodity boom of the 2010s, provides livelihoods while simultaneously worsening environmental degradation and social precarity. This study employs a qualitative desktop methodology, drawing on secondary literature, policy documents, and media reports, to examine the state's use of military crackdowns to response to galamsey. The findings demonstrate that military interventions have been largely ineffective, often raising human rights concerns and eroding state–community relations. Utilizing a network‐based political economy framework, the paper argues that enforcement strategies are structurally misaligned, as they focus on frontline miners while leaving intact the networks of complicit political elites, financiers, regulatory actors, and traditional authorities. Effective responses, therefore, require coordinated, system‐wide interventions that disrupt these networks rather than coercive, site‐level enforcement. Related Articles Antwi‐Boateng, Osman, and Mamudu Abunga Akudugu. 2020. “Golden Migrants: The Rise and Impact of Illegal Chinese Small‐Scale Mining in Ghana.” Politics & Policy 48(1): 135–167. doi.org . Abdulai, Abdul‐Gafaru, Justice Nyigmah Bawole, and Emmanuel Kojo Sakyi. 2018. “Rethinking Persistent Poverty in Northern Ghana: The Primacy of Policy and Politics over Geography.” Politics & Policy 46(2): 233–262. doi.org . Ndjakwa Tonga, Manuella, Lucy Anning, Magalie Gabriella Ngaba Mbai‐Akem, and Thales Pacific Yapatake Kossele. 2022. “Rich and Poor: How Political Governance Crises Have Affected the Relationship between Diamond Exports and Economic Growth in the Central African Republic.” Politics & Policy 50(2): 441–464. doi.org .