Evolution of political regime and popular political representations in Burkina Faso

Abstract

Under the cover of some kind of democratisation, Blaise Comparoé's regime in Burkina Faso has developed the
capacity of using and transforming institutions with the sole aim of keeping power. Without being truly democratic, this
hybrid system allows parties to be set up and to actually function; it also allows the setting up of civil society
organisations, an independent press to exist so that it could ensure for Western countries to back them up. It also
managed to project an image of a growing democracy, or at least process in the making, while at the same time it
enabled him to strengthen his domination of the political system. This paper suggests an overview of the evolution of
political regime and popular representations in Burkina Faso since Compaoré became head of the country.