Paper short abstract:

Archives represent the memory of a nation. In Burkina Faso, the Political will has been manifested with the reinforcement of archives management politics which become a tool promoting democracy and development. However, archives are destroyed during political crisis.

Paper long abstract:

Archives are created by individuals, companies and administrations for memory purposes. Their good management allows the constitution of the collective memory of a Nation. In Burkina Faso, the awareness of archives importance appears with the democratization in 1991. The creation of the National Archives and its linking to the Presidency of the Republic, denotes a political will to make it an instrument in the service of democracy and development. The execution of the project "good archive for good governance" in the public administration and the drafting of a national archives policy contribute to this political will to make memory, a tool of good governance.

However, we note that in Burkina Faso, since 1998, Justice and the National Assembly both symbols of democracy and good governance are attacked by protesters during crises. As an illustration, we can quote the destruction, the sacking and the burning of Koudougou and Bobo Dioulasso courthouse archives and also the National Assembly archives during the popular riot in 2014.

Institutions' archives destruction lead to the disappearance of the proofs of their functioning and thus raising the problem of their digitization. While, these evidences constitute a source of transparency and good governance.

The purpose of this contribution is to understand the link between archives, democracy and good governance by highlighting the place of archives in the formulation of development policies in Burkina Faso.

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