ABSTRACT
Benin is a West African country with a relatively small population, which has a common boundary with Nigeria and an important port on the Gulf of Guinea, Cotonou. This chapter examines the case of someone trained as a member of the military who was to become the president of Uganda. Mathieu Kerekou was a member of the military almost certainly largely because a career in the French military was the most obvious one to choose by someone originating from Northern Dahomey if some degree of personal advancement was to be achieved. In the cases of Benin, Ghana and Nigeria, however, the military leaders concerned markedly changed their views about what they considered to be the role which the military should and could play in their country. Such a leader must be prepared to be relatively comfortable with a political situation in which a culture of negotiation comes to play a key part in decision-making processes in liberal democratic rule.
