Complexities of Ghana’s Foreign Policy Under Jerry John Rawlings (1981–2001)

Abstract

This chapter explores the complexities of Ghana’s foreign policy under Jerry John Rawlings from 1981–2001. While Jerry Rawlings has been part of Ghana’s political landscape at three different times, the first being the short period of the AFRC regime in 1979, the chapter focuses on his two longer or main eras. The PNDC era, which lasted from 1981 to 1993, where Jerry Rawlings served as a military leader/Chairman of the PNDC, and the second main era (1993–2001), where he served two terms as the democratically elected President of Ghana’s Fourth Republic. To understand the trends and complexities of Ghana’s foreign policy during the two main eras, the chapter draws on the role approach or role theory of foreign policymaking with a focus on the leadership and legacy of Jerry Rawlings and Ghana’s foreign policy. The chapter concludes that Ghana’s foreign policy experienced change and continuity in the two main eras of Jerry Rawlings, with a noticeable change in Ghana’s foreign economic policy in the early years of the PNDC era. The aspect of foreign policy continuity was, however, prominent in the Fourth Republic under President Rawlings with incremental policy changes.