Internal Sources of External Behavior: Ghana's new Foreign Policy

An attempt to examine & explain the change of Ghana's foreign policy since the overthrow of K. Nkrumah. The change has been most marked in the fields of East-West relations, intra-African affairs, controversial non-African issues & internat'l & regional org's. In terms of East-West relations, there has been a shift from friendship with & reliance on the Communist states to friendship with & reliance on the Western powers. This is reflected in the figures on trade & aid. In terms of inter-African affairs, Ghana's foreign policy has become less militant & aggressive toward other African states & schemes of all-African unity have been abandoned. The anticolonialist stand has been maintained, but its forms of expression have become more moderate. On controversial issues in general, Ghana is abstaining from taking positions & claims to be more truly neutralist now than under Nkrumah. In the field of internat'l & regional org's, Ghana is now much more willing to cooperate & has abandoned claims to be the leader of Africa. The author offers 2 reasons for the change. 1st, the economy was near bankruptcy at the time of the take-over, & the econ needs of the country imposed restraint & flexibility. 2nd, the new ruling group is a technocratic elite functioning as a pol'al elite. It is more oriented toward efficient & rational adman than toward revolutionary strategies. A. Peskin.