Non-state actors in Benin: Dialogue on cooperation is getting organised

This  series of briefs is designed to facilitate an exchange of information on the role played by non-state actors (NSAs) in implementing the Cotonou Partnership Agreement between the ACP and the EU. Their aim is to cite examples of innovative practices and to demonstrate the challenges facing NSAs as development partners in different countries.

Since gaining independence in 1960, Benin has experienced three major political periods, each of which has been very different from the others. The most tumultuous period, from 1960 to 1972, was marked by a succession of military coups that seriously destabilised the country's social and political life. In October 1972, a military coup brought Mathieu Kérékou to power at the head of a revolutionary military government (RMG) that was to rule Benin for the next seventeen years. The RMG pursued a Marxist-Leninist policy and in 1975 adopted a new Constitution establishing a one-party system based on the Benin People's Revolutionary Party. An economic crisis and the international recession of the 1980s led to fierce public protest against the party's totalitarian dictatorial policies.