Herrschaft, Verhandlung und Gewalt in einer afrikanischen Mittelstadt (Parakou, Benin)

The ongoing or planned processes of political and administrative decentralisation in Africa are to be seen in connection to changes of national regimes occurring in the region since World War II. It is to be expected that this intervention "from above" will be absorbed in the local political arenas the same way - relative to locally ruling norms and institutions. Decentralisation should, therefore, not be seen as an equivalent to democracy on the local level. Summary The ongoing or planned processes of political and administrative decentralisation in Africa are to be seen in connection to changes of national regimes occurring in the region since World War II. It is to be expected that this intervention "from above" will be absorbed in the local political arenas the same way - relative to locally ruling norms and institutions. Decentralisation should, therefore, not be seen as an equivalent to democracy on the local level. The currently existing complex arrangement of intermediary institutions that can be found in many African local political arenas, is the result of a historical process of institutional accumulation. Questions are now arising whether the newly arranged political institutions (especially district councils and mayors) - including the respectable patterns of legitimacy - are merely additional institutions within the existing network of local institutions or whether those newly built institutions will be able to dominate the existing ones by imposing their regulatory competence and their way of legitimisation on existing actors, bodies, and authorities, and thereby becoming a focus of local politics in the future. These considerations are exemplified by presenting the results of field research in the town Parakou, in northern Benin. Thus, a prognosis might be given on the development of those democratic institutions that are by now introduced in Benin as well as in many other African states on the local level. The currently existing complex arrangement of intermediary institutions that can be found in many African local political arenas, is the result of a historical process of institutional accumulation. Questions are now arising whether the newly arranged political institutions (especially district councils and mayors) - including the respectable patterns of legitimacy - are merely additional institutions within the existing network of local institutions or whether those newly built institutions will be able to dominate the existing ones by imposing their regulatory competence and their way of legitimisation on existing actors, bodies, and authorities, and thereby becoming a focus of local politics in the future. These considerations are exemplified by presenting the results of field research in the town Parakou, in northern Benin. Thus, a prognosis might be given on the development of those democratic institutions that are by now introduced in Benin as well as in many other African states on the local level.