The nation was proclaimed the Republic of Dahomey on December 4, 1958, acceding to international sovereignty on August 1, 1960.
It then heralded a name-change advanced by long-time dictator Mathieu Kérékou (who led Benin from 1972 to 1991 and again from 1996 to 2006), calling itself the People's Republic of Bénin on November 30, 1975, and aligned itself closely with the Soviet Bloc until Kérékou was forced by popular unrest in December 1989 to drop Marxism-Leninism as the state ideology.
Kérékou was subsequently deposed by a 'National Conference' consisting of politicians, jurists and university professors held in February 1990. The Conference then set about to change the nation's name to the Republic of Bénin on March 1, 1990 and began to democratize the system.
Elections in 1996 brought back Kérékou, who claimed to have 'seen the light', and switched from Marxist ideologue to 'born-again' Christian (re-converting himself from Moslem). Kérékou began to revert to dictatorial ways and was caught winning re-election in 2001 through corrupt means [Link]
