Benin is a small coastal country in Western Africa dwarfed by an economic African superpower to the east, Nigeria, and to the west, a nation with poor human rights records, Togo. Previously known as Dahomey, it had two distinguishable claims to fame in its pre-colonial times. Its slave-trading was a hub for the Americas and was considered as the “Latin Quarter of West Africa” [Ronen, 1975] twenty years before colonization, as it was an intellectual center that supplied teachers, administrators and others to other French colonies. Nowadays, Benin is considered to be one of the main actors of the transitional movement of pluralistic political systems in Africa and belongs to the minority of Sub-Saharan countries with a strong democratic system. However this was not always the case; after their independence it was one of the most politically unstable countries in Africa. Nowhere in Africa had civilian and military regimes alternated so rapidly after independence. How could a country known as hub of intelligence be marred by such political chaos? The Beninese deep attachment to traditional values, its ethno-regional division and the implementation of western political institutions during the imperialistic French regime in the 19th century could be considered as direct causes of political instability after their independence in 1960.
Formerly known as Dahomey, Benin is a leader of the Third Wave of democratization, with a surprising record of political stability since the 1990s, yet its economic situation does not reflect it. With a GDP of 9.3 billion USD and $2,200 per capita [CIA World Factbook, 2018], Benin is doing not doing well economically. It is one of the smallest countries in Africa with a strong reliance on an agrarian economy, in the cotton industry and is severely underdeveloped. Its close trade links with Nigeria make it vulnerable, their GINI coefficient of 47.8 has seen 10 point increase in 10 years and nearly 40% of individuals live below the poverty line [World Bank, 2017]. However, this poor economic situation does not affect the liberties of its citizens. According to the NGO Freedom House, its media landscape is made up of “a pluralistic and frequently-politicised press publishes articles that are highly critical of government and opposition party leaders." [BBC, 2018] Adding on, from a social perspective, Benin holds more than 40 different ethnic groups and in recent history has had no issues. The small coastal country has more division with regionalism than ethnicity, as the north and south divide in terms of education and European influence created economic and political divergence. Social change can be understood through governance and regionalism.
History from the colonial period to the present
To understand the dichotomy between tradition and modernization in Dahomey (present-day Benin), the pre-colonial history needs to be analyzed. Benin was a large hub of slavery, yet their captured enemies were not necessarily seen as a financial opportunity in the slave trade. In Dahomean society, socio-religious aspects of war were far more important than the economic ones. This is because an individual belonged to his lineage -which gave the framework of his life. The tohwiyo, in Fon clans gave a common identity to the people and instituted their laws; “individualism did not exist in Black Africa. Each man was part of a collectivity.” [Ronen, 1975]. The captured enemies were used as sacrifices to the tohwiyo, and the leftovers would be incorporated into the slave trade. This is important to note when studying the implementation of modern political institutions.
The African kingdom inflated by powerful discipline was defeated by French imperialism in the late 19th century, in a forceful and arbitrary manner. The kingdom being divided into three parts, the French had to acquire each part separately. The Act of Berlin of 1885 obliged European nations to have immediate presence upon a coast line to acquire trading rights. King Benhazin of Abomey signed a treaty thinking it was to engage in commerce with the French rather than a claim of territorial rights [Roven, 1975]. This failure to recognize the French right of sovereignty and their strong belief in human sacrifices became the casus belli of the Imperial army and Dahomey became a French protectorate in 1894. Clearly, the first intention of the French was to set up some institutions to create a socio-political framework in an attempt to modernize Dahomey.
French colonization came with new measures, some administrative and others economic, heavily influencing the day to day of the typical Dahomean individual. King Benhazin, a national emblem, strongly opposed colonization and refused to turn himself in, even when the French had complete territorial control over the population. In an attempt to gain the society’s trust they opted to give power back to the royal family which all promptly refused. His brother Agoli Agbo opted to become King, but just ended up as a traditional chief in indirect rule. In 1899 was the application of an indigenat: a set of French penal code which allowed the people to be arrested for up to 15 days in case they didnt follow certain rules, which included not paying the tax, lying about number of taxable habitants, and refusal to work for colonial administration. Little by little French imposition of western institutions shifted this traditional country away from its roots.
Benin, heavily controlled by the French was in no position to react, and paradoxically, benefited from the Second World War. Dahomey felt its first social breakthrough in 1946 as the War brought into regulation regarding human rights and colonization. The reforms of 1946 brought voting privileges, abolition of forced labor and of indigenat, it affected the population but still no representation for the masses. These were the first steps of reforms which affected the community as a whole. Sourou-Migan Apithy came into power after the French Fourth Republic commenced and a tumultuous period marred by incomprehensibility of a real political institution developed. The 1st August 1960, Dahomey claimed its independence from France, with Hubert Maga, a northerner at its head but was positioned with a weak economy, a society with ethnic and regional cleavages and a splintered political elite. [Houngnikpo, 2001].
After its independence, Dahomey experienced its worst period with 6 coups in 12 years and was called the unpredictable African state. It was one of the few African countries with no leader after WW2. The country was divided into three regions, each with a leader and was still largely dependent on regular french contribution and were thus aiming towards assertion of effective independence. The educated people left the country towards more developed francophone countries as. The political system failed because institutions were injected in “a political vacuum” [Ronen, 1975]. The first 12 years of independence were marred by political turmoil and a record of 6 military coups in those twelve years. There was a total absence of political awareness in society.
Democratic Transition
1972 was the golden year of Benin regarding political turmoil, Mathieu Kerekou came into power and brought with him a Marxist-Leninist system, which true to its word, could not be the viable solution. The Revolutionary Party of the People of Benin was instored, along with a military administration. However this was a short-lived victory. As one historian lightly put it, his regime was a mixture of “dogma and pragmatism, militant socialist utopianism, jaded elitist opportunism, fire-eating Marxist vituperation and naïve crypto-Trotskyite deviationism”. Yet, it was the first time since the creation of the free country that a viable system, set away from traditional institutions was implemented. Clearly, due to a lack of education and other cases, it was not the right system and everything that could go wrong went wrong. The country was deep in bankruptcy that individuals would not even receive their salaries.“Nothing was working anymore in Benin. The Marxist Revolution had failed” [Kéké, 1990]. Encouraged by French and local pressure, a National Conference was formulated in 1990. The lack of backing by a global superpower and the collapse of the Soviet Union might have played a small role in the crumbling of the regime.
Mathieu Kerekou, in the most surprising of manners completely justified the economic crisis to his regime and pleaded guilty to his wrongdoings. His opening statement in the conference urged for “democratic renewal and economic, social and cultural development of our country, Benin”. Adding on, he asked "forgiveness from the victims of the deplorable and regrettable incidents". He stated his "deep, sincere, and irreversible desire to change." The previous leaders united for a greater good against the present, and societal convergence was finally seen. Kerekou accepted defeated a set a precedent for political competition in Benin. "Benin is a pioneer of democracy in Africa and will remain so right the way down the line. I am not going to spoil what I have helped to create." [Kerekou, 1990]
Dichotomy between deeply rooted traditional institutions and imported modern institutions.
Two centuries before, the Benines had forms of interaction completely contradicting those of Europeans, and the French regime reinforced foreign culture. Legally, speaking, imported modern institutions were the only political institutions available to the Dahomeans. The traditional chief became an intermediary between the politicians and their ethnic groups. Since the tohwiyo had authority over the people and there was no individualism in their society, his opinion and vote was reflected upon hundreds of individuals. Thus, once an electoral process was instored, it focused in obtaining support of the influential people. This was more viable in the northern parts of Benin, which were uneducated and could be inferred as a reason why Maga rose to power. After WW2 however there was a new African representation that was introduced in addition to the chiefs; crise de chefferies, following a crisis of administration on a local level made it more convenient and less expensive to keep chiefs instead of replacing by french people, however this was under indirect rule, there was a distinction to be made between chiefs and “chiefs”. The traditional chiefs used to have power and influence in administration but since colonization they only have honorary and religious roles; command was transferred to canton chiefs. population incapable of understanding that he had administrative role still considered to e the sovereign leader. [Givot, 1954] However, this exclusion of chiefs from modern system made it possible for traditional to not be destructed.
Role of Education in transitioning to modern political institutions
Benin was known as one of the intellectual quarters of pre-colonial Africa, with high levels of educated individuals in the southern region, unlike northern territories. During colonization, Brazilian slaves returned to Dahomey and integrated society as the elite, as they shared common ideals with the European institutions. They filled economic and political roles in Dahomean society but quickly played an important culture role; were the elite and paved the way for French institutions, and owned the media, asking for social and cultural emancipation from traditional past. More than education there were other regionalistic divisions, there was Muslim influence in the north and Christian in the south. There were geographic limitations, from landscape and climate.
Historically, there had been a constant division between both regions. However, once independence was attained, the situation started changing. Maga was part of northern Dahomey and inspired other northern individuals to have a part on the political scene in Benin. Adding on, once independence was proclaimed parties shifted away from a region-based approach and towards a political one, to create the National Party of Dahomey. Thankfully, independence removed the influence of the Brazilians, but the French-instored cantons divided the country into different quarters which were not on an ethnic basis. The northern part of Benin had low education and opposed institutional education as there were agricultural drawback in educating children. In 1945 only 3.3% of kids went to public school in Dahomey in the North, 1% of pupils could statistically go to secondary education. Education was more widespread in the southern part of the country due to earlier European contact. There were more urban sectors in the south and the models of educational organization were based on French pre-May 1968 models. In the 1950s, the country had 27% of school-age children in school but still had a surplus in educated youth, leading to high unemployment, in other words, education was not designed to meet the needs of the country! Colonialism had as a goal to “create an African elite capable of absorbing French civilization … and would become agents of change among their people” [Ronen, 1975]