Oil and Cocoa in the Political Economy of Ghana-EU Relations: Whither Sustainable Development?

Oil and cocoa represent strategic export commodities for the Ghanaian economy, prioritised within the Ghana Shared Growth and Development Agenda. This article examines these sectors in the context of Ghana’s relations with the European Union (EU). Notably, the EU constitutes the most important market for Ghanaian exports. The European Commission, moreover, has pledged to tangibly assist private sector development in Ghana, with particular reference to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Through its focus on oil and cocoa, the article problematises certain aspects of EU aid and trade interventions with respect to normative SDG development pledges

Restructuring the EU–ACP sugar regime: out of the strong there came forth sweetness

In 2005 the EU instigated the most substantial reform to the sugar sector since the UK acceded in 1973 and just two years later caused consternation among the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries by denouncing the 34-year long Sugar Protocol. In contrast to existing literature, which has taken a snapshot of the post-reform period and identified ‘winners and losers’ accordingly, this article examines the processes of capital accumulation in the industry and the legacies these have left. It argues that despite defeat in a World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute case, concentration and diversification in the EU sugar industry has enabled its leading corporations to prosper after reform, while divestment in the ex-colonies has left producers in the ACP facing difficulties of adjustment far in excess of plain terms of trade losses. Further, it also reveals why EU reform was not solely a response to WTO legislation but rather, because of the relationship of sugar to wider economic fortunes, resulted from an assiduous attempt by the EU Trade Commission to press the sector into a WTO-compatible Common Agricultural Policy