This article critically reviews, assesses and refines Lindberg’s theoretical proposition that African states will become more democratic if they simply keep holding elections, irrespective of the degree of ‘freeness and fairness of the elections’, by using new empirical evidence from Ghana. Specifically, it highlights three fundamental challenges to Lindberg’s thesis on theoretical, methodological and empirical grounds. To achieve the objectives of this article, first, a systematic and logical approach will be employed to assess the theoretical and methodological justifications underpinning Lindberg’s argument and some contributions to the debate from his critics. Second, it introduces new empirical evidence from Ghana, which clearly ‘deviates’ from Lindberg’s theoretical expectations in the long run, thus, calling for theoretical refinement and elaboration of the latter’s initial thesis. Finally, it draws from the analysis some conclusions and implications for the study of democratization in Africa in the future.

中文翻译：

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非洲的选举政治和民主：对林德伯格论文的批判性评论

本文通过使用来自加纳的新经验证据，批判性地回顾、评估和完善林德伯格的理论主张，即如果非洲国家只是继续举行选举，无论“选举的自由和公平”程度如何，它们都会变得更加民主。具体而言，它强调了林德伯格论文在理论、方法和经验方面的三个基本挑战。为了实现本文的目标，首先，将采用系统和逻辑的方法来评估支撑林德伯格论点的理论和方法论理由以及他的批评者对辩论的一些贡献。其次，它引入了来自加纳的新经验证据，从长远来看，这明显“偏离”了林德伯格的理论预期，因此，呼吁对后者的初始论文进行理论完善和阐述。最后，通过分析得出一些结论和对未来非洲民主化研究的启示。