Ghana in Search of Regional Integration Agenda 67 CHAPTER FOUR: REGIONALISM AND REGIONAL INTEGRATION: PROSPECTS AND CHALLENGES (MAKING THE ORDINARY GHANAIAN ACTIVE IN THE INTEGRATION PROCESS) Vladimir Antwi-Danso* ABSTRACT The phenomenal increase in global economic activities, especially trade, and the inability of global structures to ensure equity in global trade and development; have created an inevitable process of regionalism. It is an accepted norm that a high degree of integration would ensure an organically functioning international system. The last quarter of the last century particularly, saw the proliferation and/or intensification of efforts at regional integration. Specific to Africa, integration has seen lots of hiccups. This paper sets off with a theoretical foundation for regionalism after which the picture of regionalism in Africa is given, with emphasis on the challenges and prospects of the phenomenon in Africa. Ghana's role in the integration process both in Africa region and within the West African sub-continent is then outlined. Integration is about trade, about infrastructure, and therefore about markets. In this regard, the importance of free movement of factors – goods, capital, and especially persons – cannot be overemphasized. It is in this vein that the role of the socio-economic partners in development cannot be ignored. The paper contends that the non-incorporation of integration schemes in national plans creates ignorance among the people. A little survey conducted for the purpose of this paper shows that the ordinary Ghanaian is not active in the integration process. *Dr. Vladimir Antwi-Danso is a Senior Research Fellow at the Legon Centre for International Affairs(LECIA), University of Ghana, Legon.