Abstract

The exclusion that can be seen from the empirical measurement of perception of Beninese citizens via the “Democratic Resilience” project reveals a formidable problem of political participation. In reality, for some time, a part of the population, even a large majority of the Beninese population, has felt powerless to influence the course of political actions, that is to say, that they are unable to establish a relationship between their daily concerns and the abstract principles which seem to govern actions, which govern political solicitations. On the other hand, the participating citizens therefore appear to be the only ones capable of making an informed and reasoned political choice, of accessing a form of thought compatible with the very principles of Beninese representative democracy so that, the masses held to the The deviation from politics, subject to the decisions taken by the most competent, would introduce through their possible participation only troubles and disorders, ignorance and irrationality, into the delicate and fragile game of the mechanisms of rational government; their passive acceptance of the rules of the game, their vague attachment to democratic values assimilated to a minimal “consensus” are enough to maintain the foundations of a system whose functioning is solely controlled by the political elites of the day. So that, the modes of adaptation and reinvention of citizens, on the other hand, vary from one department to another and are presented above all, in the departments of Borgou and Alibori under the yoke of a democratic resilience which takes on a dualistic appearance and is seen on the one hand, through resilience in faith and deviousness and on the other hand, via violent resistancerevenues

Keywords

Benin, representative democracy, democratic resilience, resilience in faith and sneaky, violent resistance