What does the film show us that “looks” democratic (or not)? Does “democracy” 15 years ago (or 30 years ago) look different than it does today?

POLS-1301-M50 Intro to Comparative Politics Spring Term 2025
This is a big week to think about Democracy and Democratization – in the words of Karl and Schmitter “What it is…and what it’s not” (and we dive more into “what it’s not” over the next few weeks).
One of the key things we do in comparative politics is not only compare different units of governance (countries, regions, etc.) but we also compare variables OVER TIME. This is especially important when thinking about the processes of how countries democratize as well as “backslide” into authoritarianism or hybrid regimes. Most everything we look at — Regime Types, Violence, Economies, etc. — are all dynamic and evolve. So — keeping in mind temporality and the O’Neil and Karl/Schmitter readings — Based on the documentary, what makes Ghana (in 2008) a democracy?

What does the film show us that “looks” democratic (or not)? Does “democracy” 15 years ago (or 30 years ago) look different than it does today? Keep in mind Karl and Schmitter wrote their piece in 1991, just as the USSR was collapsing and transitions to multi-party politics were occurring throughout Africa. “An African Election” covers the 2008 Ghana election, 16 years after its first multi-party competition.

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