The rise and ‘thermidorianization’ of racial praetorianism in Benin

Martin, Michel Louis

doi:10.1080/13523278508414782

Cited by 2 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…He first removed remaining potential rivals within the junta. In June 1975, Kérékou purged Major Aikpe, the popular and powerful minister of interior, who was shot on the pretext that he had been caught having an affair with Kérékou's wife, though in reality Kérékou was concerned that Aikpe's faction of militant officers posed a continuing coup threat (Martin 1985, 70). In November 1975, a new constitution was adopted, Dahomey was renamed Benin, and a new support party, the Parti Revolutionnaire du Peuple Beninois (PRPB), became the country's sole legal party (Wilton-Marshall and Shaw 1975).…”

Section: Personalizing After Failed Coups In Algeria Sierra Leone And...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In November 1975, a new constitution was adopted, Dahomey was renamed Benin, and a new support party, the Parti Revolutionnaire du Peuple Beninois (PRPB), became the country's sole legal party (Wilton-Marshall and Shaw 1975). Kérékou became head of the six-man PRPB politburo, whose next most powerful figures were military officers, Major Michel Alladaye and Lt. Martin Azonhiho (Decalo 1981, 94–5), who strengthened their positions by demonstrating loyalty to Kérékou by suppressing the general strike and student protests that broke out following Aikpe's murder in the summer of 1975 (Martin 1985, 75).…”

Section: Personalizing After Failed Coups In Algeria Sierra Leone And...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…He first moved to neutralize the Fon threat in the regular army. In 1975, senior officers from the older Fon generation were purged (Martin 1985, 75). Meanwhile, more northerners were promoted to the officer corps and new paramilitary organizations were created (Morency-Laflamme 2018, 9) 33 .…”

Section: Personalizing After Failed Coups In Algeria Sierra Leone And...mentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Rush to Personalize: Power Concentration after Failed Coups in Dictatorships

Timoneda

Escribà‐Folch

Chin

2023

Brit. J. Polit. Sci.

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How do failed coups influence power personalization in dictatorships? While scholars have studied the mechanisms of personalism in dictatorships in detail, little attention has been paid to the timing and determinants of surges in personalism levels. In this article, we propose that personalism can evolve non-linearly, and show that large, quite rapid increases in personalization by dictators occur after a failed coup attempt. The logic is that failed coups are information-revealing events that provide the dictator with strong motives and ample opportunities to accumulate power. The leader uses this window of opportunity to rapidly consolidate his power at the expense of the ruling coalition. We test the theory using time-series, cross-sectional data on dictatorships in 114 countries in the period between 1946 and 2010. Two placebo tests indicate that disruptive events by regime outsiders – failed assassination attempts and civil war onsets – do not promote the rush to personalize.

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Section: Personalizing After Failed Coups In Algeria Sierra Leone And...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Personalizing After Failed Coups In Algeria Sierra Leone And...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Personalizing After Failed Coups In Algeria Sierra Leone And...mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

The Rush to Personalize: Power Concentration after Failed Coups in Dictatorships

Timoneda

Escribà‐Folch

Chin

2023

Brit. J. Polit. Sci.

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“…Thus, the year 1980 represented an important turning point in the history of Beninese Marxism-Leninism which is sometimes referred to as "thermidorianization" (Martin 1985).…”

Section: Long-term Causesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Democratization without Development: Benin 1989–2009

Bierschenk

2009

Int J Polit Cult Soc

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In contrast to a widely held view that sees Benin's democratic transition in 1989 primarily as the fall-out of global tendencies, this paper focuses specifically on the internal causes of this historical event, which it locates in the context of the history of Dahomey/ Benin since 1960 and the country's political economy. It argues that, while the Renouveau Démocratique doubtlessly represented a significant step towards democracy, it did little to change the country's deep-rooted political-economic structures. Since Dahomey gained independence in 1960, it has been a structurally deficient rent-based economy. None of the regime changes of the past 50 years-independence in 1960, the adoption of MarxistLeninism in 1974 or the Renouveau Démocratique of 1989/90-have succeeded in changing anything in relation to this fundamental fact. Thus, the crisis of 1989 was primarily a crisis of a particular pattern of political-economic regulation. None of the regime changes of the last 50 years, however, succeeded in resolving the country's basic development problem, i.e. how to transform a structurally deficient rent-based economy into a productive one. Likewise, throughout the entire period from 1960 to 2009, basic elements of the political culture of the country remained unchanged. Neopatrimonialism, personalization, authoritarianism, regionalism and generationalism became, at best, more subtly differentiated as a result of the democratic renewal. To this extent, the Beninese democratic renewal of 1989/90 highlights the problematic connection between democracy and economic development.

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The rise and ‘thermidorianization’ of racial praetorianism in Benin

Cited by 2 publications

References 4 publications

The Rush to Personalize: Power Concentration after Failed Coups in Dictatorships

The Rush to Personalize: Power Concentration after Failed Coups in Dictatorships

Democratization without Development: Benin 1989–2009

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