Sub-Saharan Africa: Ghana “Teaching International Relations Theory in Ghana”

This chapter explores the author’s experience of teaching International Relations (IR) theory in Ghana, focusing specifically on his teaching on the MA in International Relations and Diplomacy (MAIRD) programme at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA). Designed originally as specialised training school for Ghana’s civil service during the post-colonial period, GIMPA has evolved into full-fledged University, offering both professional training as well as academic programmes. Although being a specialised training institution for professionals and those aspiring for careers in the foreign and diplomatic services makes GIMPA and its IR programme distinctive and unique, how the author teaches IR theory on the MAIRD programme overlaps with the experiences of other scholars teaching IR theory in other African and global South contexts. The chapter highlights how the institutional context of the author, his own Critical and Post-colonial theoretical orientation and his African/global South epistemology and ontology have all influenced his teaching of IR theory, and by so doing, enable the students to appreciate the importance of non-Western and African perspectives in IR theory and practice.