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  • 9 - A Patrimonial Regime with Multiple Oligarchs

  • from Part III - Synthesis
  • Edited by François Bourguignon, École d'économie de Paris and École des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris, Romain Houssa, Université de Namur, Belgium, Jean-Philippe Platteau, Université de Namur, Belgium, Paul Reding, Université de Namur, Belgium
  • Book:
    State Capture and Rent-Seeking in Benin
    Published online:
    09 November 2023
    Print publication:
    23 November 2023, pp 349-399
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  • Summary

    This chapter devises a synthetic ordering of the factors identified as impeding long-run development in Benin, namely corruption, weak public management, opacity of public decision-making and policy implementation, and excessive informality. These institutional weaknesses are traced back to proximate and ultimate causes, while in the other direction the economic consequences of these weaknesses are unfolded. We identify the immediate causes as political instability, elite capture of key state functions, weakness of the state, and the possibility of easy but illegal rents. In turn, these causes are linked to five deep factors: (1) neo-patrimonialism with multiple oligarchs; (2) a multiple ethnic groups; (3) a geographical/neighbourhood landscape in which Benin appears as a small country that possesses a long border with its big neighbour (Nigeria); (4) a legacy of centralised management of key economic sectors, dating back to the French colonial period; and (5) the heavy presence of aid agencies. Policy reforms aiming at overcoming or circumventing these institutional problems are then discussed.