ABSTRACT
The wave of political reforms and democratization moving across the African continent since 1989 has affected landlocked and poverty-stricken Burkina Faso as well as its wealthier neighbors. Before independence, the various ethnic groups that comprise Burkina Faso were geographically separate and lacked regular intercommunication. This chapter reviews the postcolonial history of Burkina Faso, with particular emphasis on the social revolution undertaken by President Thomas Sankara, and focuses on the events in the country since the beginning of President Blaise Compaore's administration in 1987. Sankara spelled out the direction of his populist revolution in his Political Orientation Speech on October 2, 1983. In an attempt at reconciliation with the opposition, Compaore called for a national forum to begin on February 11, 1992. On the very day of Sankara's death, Compaore, who had been Sankara's closest associate, became head of state and embarked on a "Rectification of the Revolution".
