Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- List of contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- PART I
- PART II
- PART III
- 12 Nation without a state and state without a nation: the case of Africa south of the Sahara
- 13 The economic foundation of the nation-state in Senegal
- 14 From the Jewish national home to the state of Israel: some economic aspects of nation and state building
- PART IV
- PART V
- Index
13 - The economic foundation of the nation-state in Senegal
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 September 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- List of contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- PART I
- PART II
- PART III
- 12 Nation without a state and state without a nation: the case of Africa south of the Sahara
- 13 The economic foundation of the nation-state in Senegal
- 14 From the Jewish national home to the state of Israel: some economic aspects of nation and state building
- PART IV
- PART V
- Index
Summary
In April 1960, Senegal, like most French African colonies, became independent. The new regime expressed a strong will to build a nation within the borders inherited from colonisation and to promote social and economic development in order to reach the level of Western industrialised societies within a relatively short time. To attain this double objective of economic prosperity and nation building, several political strategies were elaborated on the basis of the doctrine of ‘African socialism’.
Basing its legitimacy on a strong belief in these objectives, and supported by a coalition of social forces efficient enough to exert tight control over Senegalese society, the regime, with relative ease, absorbed, neutralised or eradicated any tendency to dissent by a combination of repression and co-option of its opponents. This strategy appeared politically successful with regard to the desire to curb dissent and strengthen central power. Under the pretext of promoting national unity and nation building several new policies were implemented. At the institutional level power was reinforced and stabilised by a single political party and an authoritative presidential regime. On the economic level the state assumed a central position that enabled it to exercise the social control necessary to implement its economic programmes. It extended its control by managing the country's resources and monopolising the sphere of policy decisions.
However, very soon, political tensions arose in the upper sphere of the state, revealing disagreements between Mamadou Dia, President of the Council, and Léopold Sédar Senghor, President of the Republic about the orientation of the regime.
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- Chapter
- Information
- Nation, State and the Economy in History , pp. 251 - 269Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2003
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