ABSTRACT
Although the antecedents of the contemporary economy and polity of Ghana are largely indigenous, any analysis must be in the specificity of an evolving world system of economic, political and social relations beginning in the sixteenth century. The advance of Euro colonialism in Ghana had two dimensions; an earlier phase of economic encroachment and a later phase of total incorporation. In each case, the stimuli lay outside Ghana, and must be sought therefore in Europe. The carving up of Africa was the product of strong economic and political forces operating in Europe. The economy was basically fashioned to maximise the gains of extraction and other forms of primary production to meet the needs of the metropolitan political arrangement. The seizure of state power and its utilisation to promote class, ideological and economic interest has its roots in the central position of the state in the shaping and nurturing of the Ghanaian political entity.
