Sozio-kulturelle Kurzanalyse: Benin

The process of democratic renewal that began in Benin in 1989 is considered a model for all of Africa. The sovereign national conference (February 1990), which was supported by all politically relevant forces, instituted a new civilian government. It created the conditions for the observance of essential human rights (release of all political prisoners, freedom of assembly, press and political parties, political neutrality of the army, etc.) and initiated economic liberalization. This effectively created better framework conditions for the development of democratic structures. The process of democratization in Benin was largely supported by the intellectual upper and middle classes of the urban centers. Beninese governance is not based on the balance of power of political associations and social groups, firmly anchored in the people, nor on a sense of national togetherness. Far more decisive are clientelism, regionalism, political ethnicity and competing customary systems of "traditional" rule. Most women are only marginally involved in political decision-making structures. Benin is one of the poorest countries in the world. Under the auspices of the "African Crisis", the African shadow economy has become a major means of securing survival across all strata of society. Even a job in the formal sector often serves only as a springboard for securing the earning potential in the informal sector. However, the parallel economy, such as gasoline and automobile smuggling between Benin and Nigeria, withdraws essential resources that the state would urgently need to develop the country. In urban regions, a layer of absentee landlords develops, accompanied by a pronounced socio-economic differentiation within the villages in large, medium and small farming families as well as day laborers and migrant workers.