Ideology and the question of agency in Africa’s international relations: the case of Ghana

Abstract

This article reconceptualises the role of ideology in shaping African agency in international relations, offering a nuanced perspective on how African governments navigate global in(ter)dependence. Responding to calls for more substantive engagement with African agency, it decisively moves beyond established narratives of resistance to highlight a more complex and dynamic understanding of agency. By theorising the interlinkages between ideology and foreign policy, the article demonstrates that African states are not passive actors but strategic agents who contest conventional African ideas, resist external pressures, and selectively embrace external policies aligned with the distinctive ideological orientations of successive governments. Through an analysis of Ghana’s foreign policy under the Nkrumah, Rawlings, and Kufuor administrations  –  ­focusing on regional integration and economic diplomacy – the article generates conceptual bases for understanding small-state behavior in the international system. These insights not only reshape scholarly debates on Africa’s global engagement but also have broader implications for rethinking Global South agency and the accountability of African governments in foreign policymaking. The article thus advances intellectual agendas both within African international relations and the larger discipline, with the potential to influence future research and policy analysis well beyond the Ghanaian case