Zur Kluft zwischen Verfassungsgebung und Verfassungswirklichkeit im Demokratisierungsprozeß Benins
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CONTRIBUTORS:
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JOURNAL:
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YEAR:
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1996
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PUB TYPE:
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Journal Article
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SUBJECT(S):
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law;human rights;iformal politics;development;Benin;
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DISCIPLINE:
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Political Science
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HTTP:
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LANGUAGE:
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German
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PUB ID:
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103-418-452
(Last edited on
2005/08/04 02:21:07 GMT-6)
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SPONSOR(S):
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ABSTRACT:
In the early 1990th the process of democratisation in Benin was praised as a model for the whole of francophone Africa. Initiated by an independent National-Conference the process of democratic renewal started with a bloodless coup of representatives of different groups of the civil society. Declared aims of this conference were, to guarantee basic human rights, to substitute the "Marxist" Kérékou-Regime by a democratic elected government, and to draft a new liberal-democratic constitution. Officially, each of these aims had been reached within one year. The new constitution was adopted through a referendum by a large majority of the population in December 1990. In the following four years the formal constitutional political structures, meant to guarantee the balance of power were implanted. However, the political elite which dominated the democratisation process pursued a hidden agenda. Reinforcing the myths of Benin as "quartier latin" and flag bearer of francophone Africa, political leaders celebrated the National Conference as a radical break with the old corrupt social order of the ‘African command state’. Yet they continued to pursuit their vested class-specific interest as the general interest of the nation.
Despite public window dressing of political leaders, crucial social and economic structures of ‘good governance’ are still lacking. But it would be short-sighted to blame just "bad government" and corruption for this failure, although the latter still prevails. The underlying problem is more fundamental, and it holds for most of the least developed African countries: Liberalization of society and economy, propagated by the international donor community, had ambiguous effects. The growth of the market economy had it repercussions not just within the realm of the economy, e.g. privatisation, separation of factors of production, land, labour, and capital; creation of business- and professional organizations. The transformation from subsistence into a market-economy was equally important concerning restructuring the political landscape. The adoption of democratic concepts by the population, based on neo-liberal concepts of exchange of equivalents via the market, the notion of equal legal status of all citizens, equal competition of politicians and political parties, and achievement-orientation, led to high flying expectations. These expectations were disappointed by the new rulers. Both within the economy and politics, the established ‘traditional’ rules of the informal sector dominated the political agenda of the ‘neo-patrimonial’ state. Gender- and class specific interests of decision makers exerted a decisive influence on the democratisation process. Besides, democratisation in Benin - the cradle of "voodoo" - was neatly interwoven with the realm of occult belief systems.
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