Abstract
The islands of Sao Tomé and Principe were colonized by the Portuguese in the 16th century and were then used as a slave trading point. Later in the 19th century they began to export cocoa. After the decolonization in 1951 the country finally came to independence in 1975. A one-party-regime was installed which built up strong relations with the socialist countries and governed the state until a democratic constitution was introduced peacefully in 1990. It then allowed opposition parties and as a consequence first multiparty elections took place in 1991 . Since then several elections were held and so far democracy does work at least better than in most of the other African countries. Today STP is one of the least developed countries of the world with a gross domestic product of 46.5 million dollars but an external debt of 250.8 million dollars . Therefore it is dependent on international aid and interested in getting money from wherever possible. Besides it belongs to the so called micro states, the group of the smallest existing countries and thus has to face certain problems.
