Book excerpt: The country has played a leading role in African affairs for decades, having been one of the first states to gain independence on the continent and serving as one of the key centres of pan-Africanism in the post-independence era. That role has continued in recent years, with Ghana playing a central part in regional organisations like ECOWAS and the African Union. Reliance on raw material exports, combined with an income-sensitive population and stubborn poverty levels in the northern regions of the country, have created complications, but Ghana has made significant progress in recent years and has begun to build the necessary foundations for long-term growth.