01_Gell_FM.qxd 13/7/05 7:25 PM Page i Democracy in Senegal Tocquevillian Analytics in Africa This page intentionally left blank 01_Gell_FM.qxd 13/7/05 7:25 PM Page iii Democracy in Senegal Tocquevillian Analytics in Africa Sheldon Gellar 01_Gell_FM.qxd 14/7/05 5:59 PM Page iv DEMOCRACY IN SENEGAL © Sheldon Gellar, 2005. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. First published in 2005 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN™ 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 and Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, England RG21 6XS Companies and representatives throughout the world. PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave Macmillan division of St. Martin’s Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Macmillan® is a registered trademark in the United States, United Kingdom and other countries. Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European Union and other countries. ISBN 1–4039–7026–2 ISBN 1–4039–7027–0 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Gellar, Sheldon. Democracy in Senegal : Tocquevillian analytics in Africa / Sheldon Gellar. p. cm. “Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis, Indiana University.” Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 1–4039–7026–2—ISBN 1–4039–7027–0 (pbk.) 1. Democracy—Senegal—History. 2. Political culture—Senegal—History. 3. Senegal—Politics and government. I. Indiana University, Bloomington. Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis. II. Title. III. Series. JQ3396.A91G43 2005 320.9663—dc22 2005042973 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Design by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India. First edition: September 2005 10987654321 Printed in the United States of America. 01_Gell_FM.qxd 13/7/05 7:25 PM Page v To the Senegalese people for their hospitality, sense of honor, and love of liberty This page intentionally left blank 01_Gell_FM.qxd 13/7/05 7:25 PM Page vii CONTENTS Preface viii Map of Senegal xii Acronyms and Abbreviations xiv Chronology of Events xvi Chapter One Tocquevillian Analytics in Africa 1 Chapter Two Point of Departure 13 Chapter Three The Old Order and Colonialism 27 Chapter Four Centralization and Democratic Despotism 44 Chapter Five Local Liberties 59 Chapter Six Political Associations, Parties, and the Press 75 Chapter Seven The Art of Association 92 Chapter Eight Spirit of Religion 108 Chapter Nine Language 124 Chapter Ten Equality 140 Chapter Eleven Democracy in Senegal: A Balance Sheet 156 Chapter Twelve The Future of Democracy in Africa 172 Notes 188 Bibliography 208 Index 217 01_Gell_FM.qxd 13/7/05 7:25 PM Page viii PREFACE I have written this book because I love Senegal and believe in Africa’s future. My interest in Tocqueville began in 1984 when I was a visiting scholar at Indiana University’s Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis headed by Vincent and Elinor Ostrom. Until then, it had never crossed my mind to think of Tocqueville’s work as relevant to Africa.Vincent Ostrom made me realize that Tocqueville, in writing about America, was not just doing a case study but elaborating a methodology—what Ostrom calls Tocquevillian analytics—for studying democracy. After reading Democracy in America carefully for the first time, I turned to another of Tocqueville’s masterpieces, The Old Régime and the French Revolution. In writing about the development of the centralized state and the devastating effects of state tutelage in destroying local initiative in France, Tocqueville seemed to be accurately describing what I had seen in Francophone Africa.Tocqueville hated extreme administrative centralization, impersonal bureaucracies, and the centralized state’s control over the economy and daily life because they implicitly denied the great diversity among human societies and sought to impose the same uniform rules for everyone. Over time, I began to understand the validity of Tocqueville’s ideas about freedom of association and the art of association as bulwarks against tyranny, but even more importantly, as preconditions for the establishment of self- governing communities.The more deeply I delved into Tocqueville, the more I appreciated the breadth and pertinence of his analysis of the role of laws, religion, language, culture, and mores in the transition from aristocratic to democratic societies. Tocqueville had something to say on almost every topic including slavery,equality,the status of women, genocide of the American Indian, and even how to govern colonies. My interest in Africa began in 1958, when I came to Paris as a graduate student at the Institut d’Études Politiques (Science Po). General De Gaulle had just come to power; France was embroiled in a bloody colonial war in Algeria; and Guinea had just become the first and only Black African French colony to choose independence. During my two years in Paris, the many Africans I met were more concerned with independence and economic development than democracy. 01_Gell_FM.qxd 13/7/05 7:25 PM Page ix Preface ix Senegal attracted me because I had studied at IRFED, a development- training institute in Paris run by Father L. J. Lebret, a Dominican priest who advised Pope John XXIII on development issues and served as economic advisor to the Senegalese government. Inspired by Lebret, I chose Senegal as the subject for my doctoral dissertation. I first went to Senegal in November 1962 to do fourteen months of fieldwork. On the boat from Marseille to Dakar, I met Ismaila Dia, a young Muslim aristocrat from Fouta Toro who was returning to Senegal after fin- ishing his pharmaceutical studies in France. Ismaila took me into his family, introduced me to Senegalese society, and became my African “grand frère.” Ismaila was a devout Muslim with a genuine interest in other religions that we both shared. Unlike Tocqueville who never returned to America, I have been back to Senegal many times over the past forty years and have personally witnessed many of the changes described in this book. As an academic researcher and international development consultant, I have had the privilege and pleasure of having been to every one of Senegal’s départements (the equivalent of our states) which afforded me the opportunity to observe Senegal’s great physical and climatic diversity. During my travels, I have observed and talked with aristo- crats, former slaves, and praisesingers (griots); farmers, herders, and fishermen; mechanics,domestics,taxi drivers,and petty traders;foresters,agricultural exten- sion agents, and state bureaucrats; journalists, judges, and lawyers; doctors, pharmacists, and university professors; feminists, human rights advocates, and literacy specialists; ministers, mayors, deputies, and local government officials; marabouts, priests, and Christian missionaries; writers, actors, and musicians; and lots of young people in urban neighborhoods. When I visited my first Senegalese village accompanied by a French cooperative specialist and a Senegalese official, the village chief did all the talking while the young men sat quietly in the back.Women were absent from the meeting.The village chief was deferential to the state official and listed the problems of the village,which he expected the state to solve.Forty years later in the same village, I saw quite a different picture. Not only were women present at the meeting, they also spoke up and were not afraid to contradict the village chief when they disagreed.Young men also inter- vened to articulate their concerns and demonstrate what their village had done to improve conditions. Although still respected, the village chief no longer dominated the meeting. In 1963, Ismaila would speak only French in his pharmacy to his customers and refused with some disdain to use Wolof, Senegal’s lingua franca. He felt obliged to give money to the family griot and to take care of the former slaves attached to his family. Forty years later, his own children spoke Wolof as their first language;he answered in Wolof to customers who couldn’t speak French; and he was willing to grant former slaves and low caste people from his village a voice in community affairs back home.Times had changed. In 1968, I spent four months in Dakar during a political crisis that shook the foundations of the regime. Senegal had become a one-party state and 01_Gell_FM.qxd 13/7/05 7:25 PM Page x x Preface allowed few outlets for the people to express their grievances or to affect government policy.Thirty years later I served as Democracy advisor to the USAID mission in Senegal for fifteen months. I personally witnessed the explosion in associational life, the maturing of a free press, and the march toward a more open political system. I also experienced the efforts of party and state officials to hold back the tide of change and to preserve their priv- ileges and control over the people. I also saw donors designing projects without consulting the people they were intended for and creating new organizations that quickly faded away after the project was over because they were not compatible with traditional modes of organizing. My most recent trip to Senegal was in 2004. Many Senegalese expressed their disappointment with the new regime after the 2000 presidential elections ousted Abdou Diouf from office and brought Abdoulaye Wade to power.They complained that Wade was trying to retain too much power in his own hands, that he was favoring his own family,and that corruption was still rampant. What I found was that Wade, despite all the power he had, could not impose his will on the people. The people had become better informed. On several occasions, he had to cancel policies and modify statements when he saw that public opinion was against him.