Changing perspectives in the didactics of international affairs in Ghana
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Date
2014-05
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Changing Perspectives on the Social Sciences in Ghana
Abstract
The sheer velocity of global trends outpaces developments in many areas of study. This statement rings no truer than in the practice and discipline of International Relations in Ghana. The early study of the discipline in Ghana was subsumed under the study of Political Science, restricted largely to the areas of foreign relations, economic integration and international law and heavily influenced by the writings of practitioners from the immediate post-independence period. However, dynamic changes in world politics have necessitated and indeed provided the impetus for a movement towards re-engineering conventional thinking on International Relations in Ghana. In particular, the dynamics of the pre and post-Cold War eras, intractable armed conflicts within the sub-region and the twin processes of globalization and integration have necessitated the acquisition of additional expertise and skill sets by international relations practitioners. Consequently, it has become imperative to provide educational instruction which would equip practitioners with the needed tools. Using a mix of primary and secondary materials, the chapter reviews the evolution of the didactics of international affairs in Ghana, highlighting the epochal transformations and offering recommendations on ways of enhancing the utility of the discipline through the content and methodology of teaching.
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International affairs, Ghana, Theory and practice, Curriculum, Legon Centre for International Affairs and Diplomacy