There was an interesting and lengthy new post on the subject of democracy in Benin written by Mark Leon Goldberg, the executive editor of UN Dispatch. Take a look at this excerpt:

Benin is a geographically small country in West Africa, located between Nigeria and Togo. Since the 1990s Benin has earned a reputation as a strong and stable multiparty democracy, with  multiple elections and peaceful transitions of power. The independent democracy watchdog group Freedom House had consistently given Benin high ratings as a free country.

However, that has all changed in recent years —  and rather dramatically. Freedom House no longer gives Benin high marks as “free” country. The degradation is attributed to actions taken by the current president Patrice Talon. He was elected in 2016 and soon after used the power of the state to undermine Benin’s democratic institutions. Political opposition has been crushed and the constitution contravened as Talon consolidates power.

Read the full article here. Also, visit the main Democracy Chronicles section on World Democracy or our articles on Worldwide Corruption.