Democratization and Domestic Insecurity: Navigating the Transition in Benin

Studies of democratization have underanalyzed problems of domestic insecurity. Four broad types of domestic insecurity have different strategic, institutional, and policy implications. This framework can be applied to the 1994 domestic security crises in the West African country of Benin. Benin is one the most successful, but unlikely, examples of democratic transition since 1990. Benin illustrates the domestic hazards of rapid democratization, as well as the potential for impoverished, resource-poor countries with a long heritage of authoritarianism and politicized communal rivalry to overcome the security challenges of democratization.