A Comparative Analysis of Dauda Jawara and Yahya Jammeh’s Foreign Policy in the Gambia (1965-2016)

Abstract

This paper provides a comparative analysis of foreign policies of Gambia under President Dawda Jawara, from 1965 -1994 and Yahya Jammeh, Gambia’s Head of State and a civilian President from 1994-2017. The paper utilized secondary materials from journals, books, newspapers, government reports and other relevant secondary documents. The findings of the study show that the Gambia’s foreign policy under Dawda Jawara exhibits dynamism, in both formulation and implementation. However, evidence from the paper shows a radical transformation of Gambia’s foreign policy on the one hand and some kind of continuity, under the Jammeh administration. The paper also found that Gambia’s foreign policy under the administration of Dawda Jawara was largely pro-west, against its afrocentric claims. Gambia under Jawara relied heavily on handouts (foreign aid) from the West. However, evidence exist to show a paradigm shift and a radical transformation of the Gambia’s foreign policy under Yahya Jammeh that was engraved with anti-West and pro- Asia rhetorics, with considerable attention given to African Affairs. This treatise concludes that leadership personality and the type of government in power played a strong role in determining and shaping foreign policy direction of a state, as demonstrated in Gambian state under Dauda Jawara and Yahya Jammmeh.