Assessing the Ghana Police Service’s Participation in International Peacekeeping Operations as a Modern Tool of Foreign Policy: Challenges and Prospects

Abstract

A major gap in literature on the Ghana Police Service (GPS) is the lack of scholarly work on the Service’s role in international peacekeeping as a means by which Ghana promotes its national interest and foreign policy objectives. This study assessed the GPS’ participation in international peacekeeping operations as a modern tool of foreign policy within the context of its achievements and challenges, through the utilization of primary and secondary data. Major findings of the study indicate that the GPS’s involvement in international peacekeeping has contributed to an enhanced image of Ghana in the International System (IS), improved capacity, general well-being and represent a strategy for entrenching Ghana’s position among her peers, as a member of International Institutions. The study, therefore, concluded that the Government of Ghana should re-consider its utilization of the GPS’ high reputation in international peacekeeping as a tool for modern diplomacy. The recommendations are a review of how the GPS is effectively utilized within the overall strategy of achieving Ghana’s foreign policy objectives is conducted to ensure the re-tooling of the GPS as a means of positioning them to continue to excel and raise high the flag of Ghana among the comity of nations.