GHANA INSTITUTE OF JOURNALISM

COURSE: APPROACHES TO COMMUNICATION RESEARCH

END OF SEMESTER EXAMINATION

NAME: IDDRISS IS-HAQ

CODE: 205

GROUP: THREE – RGULAR

INDEX NUMBER: DCS22287

LECTURER: MRS. MARCIA ABONIE

DATE OF SUBMISSION: 5th June, 2022

QUESTION: THE ROLE OF SOCIAL MOVEMENTS AND PROTEST MOVEMENTS
IN THE DEMOCRATIZATION PROCESS

BACKGROUND STUDY

Social or protest movements are shaping modern democratic life. Using Ghana’s independence
as a case study, Dr. Kwame Nkurumah through democracy was able to liberate the country from
colonial administration. Ghana was seen as a stronghold for a well-functioning democracy that
few other nations have established since their attainment of independence. Since the approval of
the 1992 constitution by former president Jerry John Rawlings, Democracy in Ghana has had a
strong influence on the standard of living in the country and on its political and economic
institutions.

PROBLEM STATEMENT

Situations like the identity politics, money politics, political arguments and social or cultural
differences gap have become more critical. These problems have weakened the effectiveness of
Democracy in our various society and the entire country at large.

PURPOSE OF STUDY

The study seeks to establish how social protest and movements played major role in Ghana’s
independence and how it has help in shaping Ghana’s democratic system since the post-
Nkurumah era.

OBJECTIVES

To understand how social or protest movements intertwine with democracy and how impactful it
has been to national development.

QUESTIONS

1. Does social movements automatically guarantee democracy. If yes, what are the
evidences?
2. Social movements delay national growth.
3. Why is it assumed democracy should be the preferred form of governance?
4. And why is there such a widespread perception that democracy is under threat.
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

‘Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it
good and hard.’ This famous quote by famous American journalist H.L Mencken talks about
what the normal citizen is entitled to in terms of his or her rights and the need for authorities to
protect them because they deserved it.

DELIMITATION

The study will involve not more than eight participants(men) in a focus group discussion
between the ages of 50-80 years in Jamestown.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The research design was based on the qualitative research method specifically the Focus Group
Discussion in a semi-structured interview that will generate the maximum of discussions. The
reason being that, the response of these people who fall under the 50-80 years column are
believed to witness the era of Dr. Kwame Nkurumah and the 1992 constitution till date therefore
their perceptions, beliefs, opinion and ideas will be of much help to the topic.

SOURE OF INFORMATION

Information and knowledge on the subject will be gathered from oral history or overview, Books
from the library, online articles, scholarly journals articles, the newspapers and national archives.

SAMPLING METHOD

The purposive sampling method will be appropriate due to the fact that a small and specific
group of people would be engaged in the process. The objective is to gain detailed knowledge
about the phenomenon rather than make statistical inferences.

DATA COLLECTION METHOD

Focus Group Discussion guide – Creating the questionnaire (probe, follow-up and exit
questions). Length of the Focus Group Discussion. Selecting the participants and preparing for
the discussion.

DETAILS OF INFORMATION
Doing background checks for information to expand key points stated from the beginning. This
will be done before meeting participants of the group discussion in order to ask on point
questions. It can be the historical, cultural, political or social background information that will
generally supports the question.

METHODS OF DATA ANALYSIS

Qualitative Data Analysis – Narrative method in order to understand the background, setting,
social and cultural context of the topic. After gathering the data through the FDG Guide being
the semi-structured interview. The entire discussion will be recorded after seeking permission
from the participants. Key points will be jotted as well. Internal and external observations will be
noted and seriously considered in the work. Data as in recordings will be manually processed
taken down notes that will useful in the work using both the deductive and inductive content
analysis. Data will then pass through the transcription method where audios will be converted to
text format and also enhance the sharing and reuse of data. After all these, there will through
cross-checking to avoid errors and misinterpretation.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Rabindra Garada (March, 2018) “Democracy and Social Movements” This study talks about
how democratization have been dominant through social movements and protests since the
French evolution. The study proves that, democracy has become a globally accepted form of
government as out of 195 states in the world as much as 125 (64%) states are found to be the
electoral democracies at present. Democracy also seems to be unfolding its true character in the
form of mass politics and mass movements that challenges the malfunctioning of government.
When the spirit of democracy gets limited to majority rule (Mahajan 2005), dissents take the shape of
social movement. The social movements and democratisation - the most significant political
processes have now been strengthening global democracy in the current century (Tilly 2004).
The democratization process often motivates people to form social movements which further
leads toward more democratization.

Salvador A.M Sandoval (September, 1998) “Social Movements and Democratization – The case
of Brazil and the Latin countries” Salvador also argued that, the outcomes of democratization
and the role of social movements intervention as suggested in the case of Latin America
American countries, Spain and Portugal however does not directly or singlehandedly cause
specific cause of democratization since regime transformations, government reform and even
policy changes are the result of the complex interaction among political forces including
powerholders, policy elites, challengers and their elite allies. Almost all social movements in
quest to seek democracy between the years of 1977-1984 failed because it appeared that some
social actors (students and workers) indulged in these protests were dismissed or forced to retire
making the movement vulnerable in fighting democratic system. The process used quantitative
research approach to interprets human behavior through statistical procedures thus the
probability sampling method using survey.

Although social movements have played major role in democratization process as stated by
Rabindra Granada but it is not all the time. Salvador’s argument has proving otherwise looking at
how social movements failed in the late 70’s to the early 80’s in the Latin American region
making it difficult to conclude that all democracy was caused by social movements or protests.

CONCLUSION

The motive behind this research topic is to evidently measure how social movements/protests
and democracy intertwine rather than dwelling on hypothesis. Social movements have been
carriers of alternative aims of democracy. Carrying out tests in their organizational praxis have
detailed demands for radical changes not only in policies but also in politics citing examples of
Kwame Nkurumah’s ‘Positive action’ movement that led to Ghana’s independence and the
‘Kume Preko’ demonstration against high standard of living in 1995. Social movements and
protests have contributed immensely to massive changes in social and economic structure aside
politics. It sometimes creates new ideas which are expected to be adopted and implemented by
those in power.
REFERENCES

Sandoval, S. A. (1998). Social Movements and Democratization. Giugni, McAdam & Tilly, 169-201.

Rabindra Garada (2018) Democracy and Social Movements. Tilly & Mahajan 2004-05

Della Porta, D., & Diani, M. (1999). Social movements. The SAGE Handbook of, 656.

Garretón, M. A. (1997). Social Movements and Democratization. In Social Movements in

Development (pp. 67-77). Palgrave Macmillan, London.

Amenta, E., & Young, M. P. (1999). Democratic states and social movements: Theoretical arguments and
hypotheses. Social problems, 46(2), 153-168.

APPENDIX

1. The impact of Social Movements on Policy Outcomes in Partly Free Democracies

2. Can Social Movements Save Democracy?
3. To what degree are social movements a necessary aspect of representative democracies?
4. What are Social Movements and why are they important?
5. Social Movement are here to stay – a part of our democratic way of life
6. Power and Democracy in Social Movements
7. Legitimacy and Forced Democratization in Social Movement
8. The role of civil society in social movement
9. Social Movement and the transition of democracy
10. What does Social Movement mean in government?

Instruments for data collection; Focus Group Discussion Guide, Interview Guide and
Questionnaire method