ABSTRACT
Ghana’s formal entry into the international system came in 1957, following its transition as a British colony of the Gold Coast into a sovereign entity. Under President Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s founding leader, the country had visions of itself as a continental leader and sought to modernise its armed forces in order to demonstrate power abroad through peacekeeping and support to like-minded radical Pan-African states and groups. The presence of Ghanaian officer corps projected the image of an African authority, capacity and competence. The strategies by which Ghana seeks to further its interests depend on the nature of the threat to its security that needs to be addressed, and whether it relates to the individual, state or international level. Ghana’s preference for defensive security and the commitment to multilateral diplomacy as the underpinning of external relations have combined to evolve a foreign policy-defence policy interface that projects Ghana’s defence policy as an extension of its foreign policy.
