The democratic ‘rectification’ in Burkina Faso

Burkina Faso was the first francophone African state to initiate political and economic reforms. These arose from a combination of domestic and external pressures. Widespread disenchantment with the failures and privations of the Sanakara regime forced the Front populaire of Blaise Compaore to promote a ‘democratic opening’. Compaore's commitment to democracy remains in doubt: he first used reform to legitimize his regime, which murdered its way to power in October 1987, and has subsequently sought to strengthen his personal hold over the country by creating a new political party, the ODP‐MT, and winning the presidential election of December 1991, boycotted by the opposition. Although there has been a retreat from ‘state capitalism’ and a switch to the private sector, government violence towards its opponents, a fragmented opposition, and the doubts about continued French pressure for reform make for an ‘uncertain democracy’ in Burkina Faso. On the positive side, the country has a vigorous history of opposing despotism, which derives in part from a well‐organized trade union movement, but perhaps more importantly from the structures of Mossi traditional society which provide many counterbalancing forces between the centre and the periphery.