This was a question that Swiss-Ghanian filmmaker Jarreth Merz asked himself as he saw the threat of chaos growing while filming the Ghanian elections. He was surprised, not only by the way chaos was avoided, but what the Ghanians taught him about themselves, the possibilities that democracy could be done better in Africa under the right circumstances, and himself and his assumptions.
Merz explains in this short (<10 minutes) TED video.