Abstract

It is not simply that most of the countries which were then colonies and protectorates are now independent It is rather that they have asserted their Africanness Looking ahead in 1950 Professor MacInnes wrote Colonial peoples are ceasing to be the docile acceptors of external rule they once were Before them he believed lay two possible lines of development the way of the Communist world and the way of the Western powers During the past quarter of a century the newly independent African states for the most part have striven to show that there was a third way their own 11 The donor countries that are encouraging Africans to take the democratic path are also the countries that are encouraging Africans to adopt economic policies that alienate the people that make development extremely difficult because of their misunderstanding of the nature and causes of Africa s economic crises ---Adebayo Adediji Former executive secretary U N Economic Commission for Africa ECA Over the years foreign economic policy actions of Ghanaian governments had basically been the by-product of formal political interactions of Ghana with the international system Specifically foreign economic relations that center on trade foreign aid and investment played second fiddle to traditional foreign policy concerns with its known political bias Ghana under the Provisional National Defence Council PNDC which came to power through a military coup on December 31 1981 was no exception to this norm until the mid-1980s the regime professed to be a socialist and pro-East government in its orientation and attitudes towards both public and foreign policy issues This article argues that the radical transformation of Ghana s foreign policy from a socialist orientation professed by the leaders of the first PNDC I regime to the second PNDC II regime in April 1983 led to the pursuit of an overly aggressive foreign economic policy as well as the gradual liberalization o