BRITISH, AMERICAN AND FRENCH POLICY TOWARD GHANA 1996-1998
This research paper examines the contemporary foreign policy of three Western nations - Great Britain, the United States and France - toward the Republic of Ghana. Today, all three countries enjoy amicable relations with Ghana, but the French relationship is relatively insignificant. These Western nations economically and diplomatically support Ghana's efforts to modernize and restructure its economy, to democratize its politics and to play a constructive role in West African affairs. That support is extended on a fairly low-scale, low-risk basis because of the problems the West encountered in dealing with Ghana in the first two decades after it obtained independence and because of economic and political uncertainties in Ghana.
Ghana as a Basket Case after Independence
The British dominated the Gold Coast after the early 19th century and held it as a crown colony from 1902 to 1957. According to Berry, "the years of British administration of the Gold Coast during the twentieth century were an era of significant progress in social, economic, and educational development" (21). After independence and despite substantial Western economic assistance, Ghana under the leadership of its founder, Kwame Nkrumah, degenerated into a one-party dictatorship. Berry says that "constitutional safeguards against authoritarianism were abolished, political opposition was stifled, and, shortly after the 1960 elections, Nkrumah was elected president for life" (xxxi).
The domestic economy suffered from deficit financing, excessive foreign borrowing, grandiose and uneconomic development projects such as dams and the Volta River Aluminum projects. The Europa International Yearbook 1997, referring to the early post-colonial period, said that "Ghana's economy has been adversely affected by political instability and mismanagement" (1442). Berry was blunter in her post-mortem: as a result...