CHAPTER FOUR: ECONOMIC GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT __________________________________________________________________________ CHAPTER FOUR 4. ECONOMIC GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT 4.1 Introduction: the challenges for economic governance and management 335. The goals and challenges to be met in economic governance depend on an analysis of the economic history of Benin and on the nature of the transformation that the country wanted to accomplish in order to realise its vision. 336. As a result of its postcolonial economic past, Benin’s economic history can be divided into three major periods. The first, the decolonisation or independent management crisis period, runs from the proclamation of independence in 1960 to the coup d’état of 1972. The second period runs from 1972 to 1990. It is marked by the establishment of a revolutionary socialist regime and, therefore, by the introduction of a socialist development policy. The third period, known as the Democratic New Deal, runs from 1990 to the present. The economic governance and management policies have, therefore, followed these three periods and influenced the focus and challenges throughout the country’s subsequent economic history. 337. The first period was marked, at the political level, by great instability characterised by a series of coups d’état (five in all), frequent changes of leaders (more than 15 heads of state) and changes in political regimes. Benin was known as the ‘sick child’ of West Africa, and political management after independence was in a constant state of crisis. The coup d’état of October 1972 put an end to this period at both the political and economic levels. 338. Despite this political instability – which did not facilitate steady and clear direction for economic governance or for deep structural change – the first period was marked at the economic level by the government’s will to ‘correct’ the evils of colonisation by adopting and implementing a policy of state investment in the economic sector. Consistent with the ideology of the struggle for independence, the population was mobilised mainly by promises of changes to the colonial system and the adoption of another economic structure. This other structure could be established only through state intervention because of limited private capital. Benin was not an exception in this regard. 339. Without really trying to escape the colonial structure inherited from the French economic empire in Africa, the government felt accountable to the Beninese people for their commitment during the struggle for independence. Consequently, it demonstrated its good intentions to compensate the people by 129