Ghana in Search of Regional Integration Agenda 58 One fundamental predicament that Ghana as a modern state faces is the fact of being a post-colonial entity with the structural limitations of underdevelopment. 82 These limitations include small market size which is also largely undeveloped; an agriculture-based economy dominated by peasant labour; low levels of technological know-how and industrialisation; large population with a narrow human capital base; a low savings culture hence the dearth of capital formation and investment; dependence on foreign financial assistance, technology and investment capital for national development, among many others. Whilst these limitations constitute a serious handicap on the country's developmental agenda, there are certain strengths and opportunities that the country can explore to its advantage. These include the geographical location of the country as a coastal state with marine assets and resources(navigable ports and harbours, oil deposits etc); centrality of the country in relation to other members of the ECOWAS; rich natural resources, both mineral and forestry; an increasingly competent and resilient human resource base; comparative stability and peace of the nation, diversified cultural heritage, historical antecedents of African leadership and diplomacy; and currently an enviable track record of good governance and democracy. The objective reality of Ghana's circumstance in a contemporary setting is that the country cannot develop in isolation, a recognition that led to the membership of various international institutions and organisations vis-a-vis the treaty obligations that ensures its security, survival and conditions amenable for progress. In the particular case of Ghana's membership of the ECOWAS, there is a contradictory tendency by the state to, on one hand, play the status of active membership with all the lure of benefits that can accrue from the processes of integration, whilst on the other hand, exhibit a dire reluctance to provide the vital ingredients towards sustaining the integration of the sub-region. One serious consideration in this regard is the preparedness of Ghana to provide the critical factors that will induce a faster pace of development for the country. In particular, the country should significantly collaborate with the most dominant actor of the sub-region, Nigeria whose market size, population, productive base, and industrial output can catapult Ghana's own developmental effort. This realisation brought two of the leaders in the sub-region to collaborate in two critical areas in the past. Firstly, to ensure peace and stability in the sub-region 82 The works of the following writers are instructive in this regard. Robert Gilpin, The Political Economy of International Relations.(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1990); J. A. Caporaso,“Dependence and Dependency in the Global System”, International Organization, Vol. 32, Winter, 1978; P. R. Viotti and M. V. Kauppi, International Relations Theory: Realism, Pluralism and Globalism, Second Edition.(New York: Macmillan, 1993).