Democratization and domestic insecurity: Navigating the transition in Benin

Comparative Politics

Volumn 33, Issue 2, 2001, Pages 211-230

  Magnusson, Bruce A ^a  

^a NONE

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 0040360591     PISSN: 00104159     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.2307/422379     Document Type: Review

References (52)

1. Brian Job, "The Insecurity Dilemma: National, Regime, and State Securities in the Third World," in Brian Job, ed., The Insecurity Dilemma: National Security of Third World States (Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 1992), pp. 11-35.
2. Michael G. Schatzberg, The Dialectics of Oppression in Zaire (Bloomington: Indiana University Press Press, 1988).
3. Stephen Krasner, Structural Conflict: The Third World against Global Liberalism (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985), p. 4. I am adapting Krasner's definition of international regime - "principles, norms, rules, and decision-making procedures around which actor expectations converge" - for the purpose of distinguishing between democracy and a democratic government.
4. Robert A. Dahl, Polyarchy: Participation and Opposition (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1971).
5. Robert Jackson, "The Insecurity Dilemma in Africa," in Job, ed., p. 83.
6. Schatzberg, p. 135.
7. Society includes individuals and alternative institutions of authority, as well as civil society.
8. This particular pattern is reminiscent of the argument about the sources of praetorianism in Samuel Huntington, Political Order in Changing Societies (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1968), p. 196.
9. See the explanation of coups in Africa in Samuel Decalo, Coups and Army Rule in Africa, 2nd ed. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990).
10. For the fragility of "entry legitimacy" for military rulers and the subsequent legitimating tool of endless institutional engineering, see Crawford Young, "Permanent Transition and Changing Conjuncture: Dilemmas of Democracy in Nigeria in Comparative Perspective," in Paul A. Beckett and Crawford Young, eds., Dilemmas of Democracy in Nigeria (Rochester: University of Rochester Press, 1997). Beckett describes this repetitive pattern as an elite-based "cycle of ambivalence" about democratic norms. Paul Beckett, "Elite Views and Democratic Legitimacy: Cycles of Ambivalence," in ibid.
11. For the fragility of "entry legitimacy" for military rulers and the subsequent legitimating tool of endless institutional engineering, see Crawford Young, "Permanent Transition and Changing Conjuncture: Dilemmas of Democracy in Nigeria in Comparative Perspective," in Paul A. Beckett and Crawford Young, eds., Dilemmas of Democracy in Nigeria (Rochester: University of Rochester Press, 1997). Beckett describes this repetitive pattern as an elite-based "cycle of ambivalence" about democratic norms. Paul Beckett, "Elite Views and Democratic Legitimacy: Cycles of Ambivalence," in ibid.
12. World Bank, Entering the 21st Century: World Development Report 1999-2000 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), pp. 230, 270.
13. John Heilbrunn, "Authority, Property, and Politics in Benin and Togo" (Ph.D. diss., University of California, Los Angeles, 1994).
14. Ibid. See also John Heilbrunn, "Social Origins of National Conferences in Benin and Togo," Journal of Modern African Studies, 31 (June 1993), 277-99; Kathryn Nwajiaku, "The National Conferences in Benin and Togo Revisited," Journal of Modern African Studies, 32 (3), 429-47.
15. Ibid. See also John Heilbrunn, "Social Origins of National Conferences in Benin and Togo," Journal of Modern African Studies, 31 (June 1993), 277-99; Kathryn Nwajiaku, "The National Conferences in Benin and Togo Revisited," Journal of Modern African Studies, 32 (3), 429-47.
16. Ibid. See also John Heilbrunn, "Social Origins of National Conferences in Benin and Togo," Journal of Modern African Studies, 31 (June 1993), 277-99; Kathryn Nwajiaku, "The National Conferences in Benin and Togo Revisited," Journal of Modern African Studies, 32 (3), 429-47.
17. See Maurice Glélé, Naissance d'un Etat Noir (Paris: R. Pichon and R. Durand-Auzias, 1969); Dov Ronen, Dahomey: Between Tradition and Modernity (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1975); Herschelle Challenor, "French-Speaking West Africa's Dahomeyan Strangers in Colonization and Decolonization" (Ph.D. diss., Columbia University, 1970).
18. See Maurice Glélé, Naissance d'un Etat Noir (Paris: R. Pichon and R. Durand-Auzias, 1969); Dov Ronen, Dahomey: Between Tradition and Modernity (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1975); Herschelle Challenor, "French-Speaking West Africa's Dahomeyan Strangers in Colonization and Decolonization" (Ph.D. diss., Columbia University, 1970).
19. See Maurice Glélé, Naissance d'un Etat Noir (Paris: R. Pichon and R. Durand-Auzias, 1969); Dov Ronen, Dahomey: Between Tradition and Modernity (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1975); Herschelle Challenor, "French-Speaking West Africa's Dahomeyan Strangers in Colonization and Decolonization" (Ph.D. diss., Columbia University, 1970).
20. See Chris Allen, "Benin," in Bogdan Szajkowski, ed., Benin, the Congo, Burkina Faso (London: Pinter, 1989), pp. 3-144; Crawford Young, Ideology and Development in Africa (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1982).
21. See Chris Allen, "Benin," in Bogdan Szajkowski, ed., Benin, the Congo, Burkina Faso (London: Pinter, 1989), pp. 3-144; Crawford Young, Ideology and Development in Africa (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1982).
22. Adam Przeworski et al., "What Makes Democracies Endure?," Journal of Democracy, 7 (1), 39-55; Seymour Martin Lipset, Political Man: The Social Bases of Politics (New York: Doubleday, 1960); Samuel P. Huntington, The Third Wave: Democratization in the Late Twentieth Century (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1991); Richard Westebbe, "Structural Adjustment, Rent Seeking, and Liberalization in Benin," in Jennifer A. Widner, ed., Economic Change and Political Liberalization in Sub-Saharan Africa (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994), pp. 80-100.
23. Adam Przeworski et al., "What Makes Democracies Endure?," Journal of Democracy, 7 (1), 39-55; Seymour Martin Lipset, Political Man: The Social Bases of Politics (New York: Doubleday, 1960); Samuel P. Huntington, The Third Wave: Democratization in the Late Twentieth Century (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1991); Richard Westebbe, "Structural Adjustment, Rent Seeking, and Liberalization in Benin," in Jennifer A. Widner, ed., Economic Change and Political Liberalization in Sub-Saharan Africa (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994), pp. 80-100.
24. Adam Przeworski et al., "What Makes Democracies Endure?," Journal of Democracy, 7 (1), 39-55; Seymour Martin Lipset, Political Man: The Social Bases of Politics (New York: Doubleday, 1960); Samuel P. Huntington, The Third Wave: Democratization in the Late Twentieth Century (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1991); Richard Westebbe, "Structural Adjustment, Rent Seeking, and Liberalization in Benin," in Jennifer A. Widner, ed., Economic Change and Political Liberalization in Sub-Saharan Africa (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994), pp. 80-100.
25. Adam Przeworski et al., "What Makes Democracies Endure?," Journal of Democracy, 7 (1), 39-55; Seymour Martin Lipset, Political Man: The Social Bases of Politics (New York: Doubleday, 1960); Samuel P. Huntington, The Third Wave: Democratization in the Late Twentieth Century (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1991); Richard Westebbe, "Structural Adjustment, Rent Seeking, and Liberalization in Benin," in Jennifer A. Widner, ed., Economic Change and Political Liberalization in Sub-Saharan Africa (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994), pp. 80-100.
26. For captivating accounts of the national conference, see Robert Dossou, "Le Bénin: Du Monolithisme à la Démocratie pluraliste," in Gérard Conac, ed., L'Afrique en Transition vers le Pluralisme politique (Paris: Economica, 1993), pp. 179-97; F. Eboussi Boulaga, Les Conférences Nationales: Une Affaire à Suivre (Paris: Karthala, 1993).
27. For captivating accounts of the national conference, see Robert Dossou, "Le Bénin: Du Monolithisme à la Démocratie pluraliste," in Gérard Conac, ed., L'Afrique en Transition vers le Pluralisme politique (Paris: Economica, 1993), pp. 179-97; F. Eboussi Boulaga, Les Conférences Nationales: Une Affaire à Suivre (Paris: Karthala, 1993).
28. John Heilbrunn, "Elites, Economic Reform, and Political Liberalization in Francophone Africa," paper delivered at the Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, Chicago, Illinois, August 29-September 3, 1995.
29. World Bank (1999), p. 250; Reuters, "African Home of Voodoo," Mar. 17, 1996.
30. World Bank (1999), p. 250; Reuters, "African Home of Voodoo," Mar. 17, 1996.
31. Presidents may serve a maximum of two five-year terms. The national assembly is elected every four years. The organic laws defining the operations and procedures of the constitutional court and appointments to it were not finalized until late 1993. The court consists of seven justices, four appointed by the national assembly and three by the president. The seven justices elect the president of the court.
32. See Bruce Magnusson, "Legitimating Democracy in Benin: New Institutions and the Historical Problem of Economic Crisis," L'Afrique Politique 1996 (Paris: Editions Karthala, 1996).
33. The estates general of territorial administration met in early 1993. Earlier, a meeting of the estates general of education defined a comprehensive reform of the national education system. Other meetings of sectoral estates general (the military, judiciary, health, and, most important, the national economy) have brought civil society groups into the policymaking process.
34. Ministry of Interior, Security, and Territorial Administration, Republic of Benin, Etats Généraux de l'Administration Territoriale (Cotonou, les 7, 8, 9 et 10 janvier 1993) (Porto Novo: CNPMS, 1993).
35. La Nation, May 26, 1994, p. 8.
36. Heilbrunn, "Authority, Property, and Politics," pp. 557-60.
37. Interviews with student leaders, February 18, March 21, 1994.
38. Interview, March 24, 1994. Foreign diplomats told me on March 16, 1994, that the Communist Party of Benin (PCB) and Our Common Cause political party (NCC) were helping to finance the student revolt. The president of the NCC, Albert Tévoédjre, formerly deputy director of the International Labor Organization, is a long-standing political rival of the Soglos and was one of the leaders of the opposition in the national assembly. In 1991 and 1996 he supported Kérékou in the run-off election against Soglo. He was later named minister of plan and employment in Kérékou's new government. The radically leftist PCB is considered the only group in Benin that had the courage to go underground and resist Kérékou's regime from within. Although it was the only political party to boycott the national conference and the subsequent 1991 national assembly elections, it won a couple of seats in the 1995 national assembly.
39. The disposition of the stolen weapons remained a mystery until November 1995, when they were aimed at the new conference center in Cotonou, built for the 1995 francophone summit. The mortars missed the building, but several military officers were implicated and arrested.
40. Jordy Durand, "Coup d'état militaire en préparation: Exécution de certains leaders politiques en vue," Tam-Tam Express, Mar. 28-Apr. 10, 1994.
41. The currency devaluation and the perception of initial French stinginess over its financial contribution to the francophone summit were instrumental in creating popular perceptions of a French-American rivalry over Benin. After the 1995 national assembly elections, Soglo and the Communist Party even formed a brief coalition to counter what they described as "French imperialism."
42. "Déclaration du Gouvernement (July 24, 1994)," printed in La Nation, July 28, 1994, pp. 3-4; Nicéphore Soglo, "Au sujet examen du projet de budget général de l'Etat, Gestion 1994," letter no. 171-C/P.R/CAB of July 26, 1994, addressed to the President of the National Assembly, printed in La Nation July 28, 1994, p. 3; letter of July 29, 1994, from E. Sacerdoti, Africa Division Chief, IMF, to Paul Dossou Minister of Finance, reprinted in La Nation, Aug. 2, 1994.
43. "Déclaration du Gouvernement (July 24, 1994)," printed in La Nation, July 28, 1994, pp. 3-4; Nicéphore Soglo, "Au sujet examen du projet de budget général de l'Etat, Gestion 1994," letter no. 171-C/P.R/CAB of July 26, 1994, addressed to the President of the National Assembly, printed in La Nation July 28, 1994, p. 3; letter of July 29, 1994, from E. Sacerdoti, Africa Division Chief, IMF, to Paul Dossou Minister of Finance, reprinted in La Nation, Aug. 2, 1994.
44. "Déclaration du Gouvernement (July 24, 1994)," printed in La Nation, July 28, 1994, pp. 3-4; Nicéphore Soglo, "Au sujet examen du projet de budget général de l'Etat, Gestion 1994," letter no. 171-C/P.R/CAB of July 26, 1994, addressed to the President of the National Assembly, printed in La Nation July 28, 1994, p. 3; letter of July 29, 1994, from E. Sacerdoti, Africa Division Chief, IMF, to Paul Dossou Minister of Finance, reprinted in La Nation, Aug. 2, 1994.
45. Constitution of the Republic of Benin, Article 68, p. 30 (emergency powers). Article 147 states that treaties and ratified agreements have a status superior to that of law, providing that they are applied by all parties; Nicéphore Soglo, speech on Radio Bénin, Aug. 2, 1994.
46. Interview with Théodore Holo by Léon Brathier, La Nation, Aug. 26, 1994, p. 3.
47. Magnusson, "Legitimating Democracy in Benin." See also Curt D. Grimm, "Increasing Participation in the Context of African Political Liberalization: The Benin Budget Crisis of 1994 and its Implications for Donors," paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the African Studies Association, Orlando, Florida, November 3-6, 1994.
48. Magnusson, "Legitimating Democracy in Benin." See also Curt D. Grimm, "Increasing Participation in the Context of African Political Liberalization: The Benin Budget Crisis of 1994 and its Implications for Donors," paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the African Studies Association, Orlando, Florida, November 3-6, 1994.
49. Constitutional Court Decision DCC 27-94 (August 24, 1994); Constitutional Court Decision DCC 29-94 (September 9, 1994).
50. Constitutional Court Decision DCC 30-94 (October 1, 1994); Constitutional Court Decision DCC 31-94 (October 1994).
51. The six living ex-presidents of Benin resided in the country during Soglo's presidency, and most remained active in politics. As a group they were occasionally called upon by President Soglo to help resolve national political disputes.
52. See Magnusson, "Legitimating Democracy in Benin," for a more detailed account of the constitutional court decisions.