Ghana's foreign policy under Jerry John Rawlings: an analysis of Rawlings' decision to realign Ghana's relations from the Eastern to the Western Bloc in April 1983

Ansah, Lucy (2021) Ghana's foreign policy under Jerry John Rawlings: an analysis of Rawlings' decision to realign Ghana's relations from the Eastern to the Western Bloc in April 1983. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

The study analyses Rawlings’ decision to realign Ghana’s relations from the East to the West in April 1983. Although many scholarly works such as the works of Boafo-Arthur (1993,1999), Adedeji (2001), Ahiakpor (1991) and Jeong (1998) have reported on Rawlings’ decision, only few have examined the events that led to this sudden shift. Therefore, this study provides an in-depth analysis of the decision-making process that led to Rawlings’ realignment. The foreign policy decision-making of developing countries regarding specific decisions taken by its leaders are understudied. The study aims to fill in this gap by providing a detailed analysis of a key foreign policy decision in Ghana under the leadership of Jerry John Rawlings. This study draws mainly from secondary sources. The findings from the study reveal that domestic and external factors accounted for Rawlings’ sudden decision to shift from the East to the West in April 1983 in order to secure Ghana’s economic survival. Ghana’s worsening economic crises and the inability of Ghana’s Eastern bloc allies to assist it in addressing them influenced Rawlings’ decision to realign Ghana’s relations from the East towards the West. The study further reveals that Rawlings’ personality might have also influenced his decision.

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