Change and Continuity in Ghana's Foreign Policy : Focus on Economic Diplomacy and Good Neighbourliness Under Rawlings and Kufuor

It is assumed that, change and continuity can occur within the same administration or after a change of government. Ghana after independence has experienced several changes in government. Accounting for over two decades of Ghana’s foreign policy, foreign policy decisions between the Rawlings and Kufuor administrations have undergone changes and continuities.
Therefore, this study sought to explain why such continuities and changes, in the areas of economic diplomacy and good neighbourliness which have been the major facets of Ghana’s foreign policy since independence.

Data gathered from interviews, a collection of speeches and statements of the two leaders as well as some Ministers of State, and relevant literatures were analysed within the framework of the two theoretical models adopted by this study: Gustavsson Model of Foreign Policy Change and Goldmann’s Framework of Foreign Policy.

Even though the study began with a preliminary assumption that, personal idiosyncrasy of the leaders can account for the change and continuity, it was revealed that personal idiosyncrasy of Presidents Rawlings and Kufuor cannot be solely sufficient in accounting for the change and continuity in their foreign policies. The study therefore found that, change and continuity in Ghana’s foreign policy (between 1982 and 2008), in the areas of economic diplomacy and good neighbourliness, can be explained by an analysis of international factors, domestic economic conditions or state, history, and political institutions, along with personal idiosyncrasy of the two leaders. The study postulates a continuous impact of domestic economy and political institutions on foreign policy whilst the others are transient.