Foreign Aid and Democratization: Benin and Niger Compared

Abstract

Abstract:This article compares the democratization process in Benin and Niger in the decade from 1989 to 1999 and emphasizes the influence of external donors with regard to their economic support of democratization. The task is twofold. First, I try to understand why, though these two aid-dependent countries share many initial similarities, the former received more external financial assistance than the latter. I build upon New Institutionalist concepts such as timing, sequence, and path dependency to demonstrate that the probability and continuity of foreign aid depend both on the timing and on sequences of the transition—a combination that may or may not produce a path-dependent phenomenon with regard to the donors. Second, I argue that the capacity of foreign aid to foster democratization depends largely on its timing, particularly in critical moments of the democratic process.

Beyond Electoral Democracy: Foreign Aid and the Challenge of Deepening Democracy in Benin

“…Within the context of Benin, aid has generally taken the form of financial and budgetary assistance and was widely expected to act as a democratic catalyst for the country's transformation process. Empirical evidence throughout the past decade has largely confirmed such an interpretation of events, therefore justifying the claim that foreign aid has been one of the main factors explaining Benin's successful democratic experiment (Gazibo 2005).…”

“…The provision of budget support has enabled Benin's central institutions to become sufficiently strong to avoid a democratic breakdown. By allowing the government to pay its civil servants and provide students with bursaries, budget support has helped avoid mass mobilizations and social instability (see Gazibo 2005). In addition, donors also provide financial and technical assistance to the Executive in order to help formulate regulations in specific domains like the electoral, and mechanisms of accountability.…”

“…From 1972 to 1990, the Marxist regime incorporated all the groups and associations as representatives of various sections of society into the structures of the single party. In 1989, the formerly incorporated organizations, in particular the unions and the students, began organizing mass protests asking for political and economic reforms (Banégas 1995;Gazibo 2005). They were the main driving force behind Benin's democratic opening.…”

“…Improvements in the country's economic performance were critical to the survival of Benin's fledgling democracy, particularly in the early stages of the transition process (Gazibo 2005; see also Magnusson 2001). This economic performance, in turn, would have been impossible without the high levels of foreign aid that Benin received during the first years of its democratic transition.…”

Africa's Unresponsive Democratization: the Relationship between Regime Type and the Quality of Life in Africa

“…Instead, democratization arose when the political conditionalities attached to foreign aid converged and interacted with domestic demands for political liberalization. For several of these countries, like in Benin, Central African Republic, Congo, Mali, Niger, Nigeria and Zambia, domestic democracy movements were born out of civil unrest targeted towards economic austerity measures, but swiftly turned towards demanding democracy (Gazibo 2005;ACR 1990ACR /1992Clark 1994: 49;Shettima 1993;Rakner 1992). In Central African Republic, Congo and Zambia, among other places, domestic trade unions held significant leverage in pressuring incumbent governments to adopt democratic reforms (ACR 1990(ACR /1992Clark 1994: 49;Rakner 1992).…”