Martin Staniland

Francophone Africa: The Enduring French Connection

Frances relations with its former colonies remain close after 26 years of independence, and France has tried hard in the last decade to expand its sphere of influence beyond the ex-colonial core. This article examines French economic and security interests in Africa, as well as the role of Africa in Frances foreign policy. It also considers some of the contradictions in French policy, the problems encountered by the Socialist government between May 1981 and March 1986, and the longer-term trend toward greater discretion and discrimination in dealing with African states. Finally, it discusses the analytic problems raised by the peculiar postcolonial relationship between France and French-speaking Africa.

WHO NEEDS AFRICAN STUDIES

marginal, and misunderstood. They complain frequently about the ignorance and indifference of the public, the media, and the politicians. Whether their complaints are justified or not, their sense of isolation may make them unusually sensitive to questions of professional identity and purpose-a sensitivity sharpened by the facts of Africas past and present and the emotions both arouse. These problems are not unique to scholars in African studies. Others in area studies experience them, as do all the millions whose positions in the eyes of the public are unpopular, suspect, or simply insignificant. The symptoms of those in love-starved professions are well known: high suicide rates, chronic introspection, incessant organizational busy-work, and an obsession with titles and qualifications. Yet sociologists (perhaps for fear of infection) have not given much attention to the professional pathology of academia. The applied social sciences, however, are another matter. An especially intriguing case for our present purpose is that of the American planning profession as described by Martin Rein (1972: 426ff). The planners, Rein noted, underwent an extended legitimacy crisis in the course of which they cast about for a formula which would establish their identity, justify their existence, and secure them a clientele. Eventually four such formulas (summarized as expertise, bureaucratic position, consumer preference, and professional values) were defined. Each formula contained answers to such questions as: Whom or what do I serve? What service do I provide? Why is that service useful (and better than that offered by rivals)? And, how should the service be performed and evaluated? This article argues that Africanists have faced a similar crisis, and they have sought similar formulas which embody answers to broadly similar questions. For Africanists, the crisis has been protracted and conflict has at times been intense (notably the African Studies Associations 1969 conference in Montreal when the proceedings were interrupted by black radicals and the entire meeting was given over to argument regarding the loyalties and priorities that Africanist scholars should adopt). Such episodes tend to obscure the perennial nature of the issues involved and the cyclical nature of the solutions proposed. Moreover, Africanists as a group have not shown much interest in the structure of the debate itself (as distinct from the righteousness of their individual positions). Five formulas, derived from an extensive study of material dealing with the development and aims of African studies in the United States, are outlined below.

The manipulation of tradition: ‘politics’ in Northern Ghana

In the Dagomba kingdom in Northern Ghana there has been a protracted dispute between two branches of the royal family over rights to the skin (throne). This dispute erupted into violence in September 1969 when at least eighteen people were shot dead by the security forces. This article examines the background to the so‐called ‘Yendi skin dispute’ and considers the significance of the distinction between ‘tradition’ and ‘politics’ as used by participants to explain the conflict and to allocate responsibility. It concludes that ‘tradition’ is both artificial and highly malleable.

Regulating aircraft emissions: leadership and market power

This article examines the process of including commercial aviation in the EUs Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) relative to claims about the EUs leadership in international environment policy-making. It argues that in order to understand the politics and the emerging shape of specific regimes concerned with atmospheric pollution, scholars must examine the nature of the pollutant and the polluting process concerned, the commercial characteristics of the polluting industry, its regulatory framework and any competing mandates held by other international organizations. These factors explain the rationale for the EUs inclusion of aviation in the ETS and the resulting dilemmas faced by the Commission. They also explain the resistance of non-EU carriers to their inclusion in the ETS and the EUs ambiguous success in making them comply.

The Three Party System in Dahomey. Part One, 1946-1956

The ‘three-party system’ of Dahomey consists of a trio of regional fiefs, created by MM. Apithy, Maga, and Ahomadegbe in the early fifties. The development and persistence of regionalism can be attributed to a low level of economic change, an unusually high level of educational provision, a considerable diversity of ethnic groupings, and an exceptionally rapid process of enfranchisement. Formal political organizations appeared in 1945 and 1946 in response to the constitutional innovations brought about by the Constituent Assemblies in Paris. Between 1946 and 1951 territorial politics were dominated by the Union Progressiste Dahomenne , a loosely structured body which, while claiming ‘mass’ membership, had many of the same leaders as pre-war elite associations and adopted a similar philosophy with regard to colonial reform. There was little attempt to ‘mobilize’ the hinterland or to get the support of the unenfranchised. The institutional arrangements of the period did not compel politicians to strive in either direction. They did encourage the consolidation of the personal authority of the deputy, over both his political associates and the voting public. Regional parties were set up in and after 1951. Their creation was occasioned by a sudden, fivefold increase in the electorate, the granting of a second National Assembly seat to the territory, and a split within the U.P.D. leadership over the renomination of Apithy, deputy from 1946 to 1951. Northern politicians, led by Hubert Maga, exploited the division within the U.P.D. and exploited also northern resentment over the partys indifference to the region. The northern component of the regional system came into existence (the G.E.N.D.—later M.D.D.), and was quickly followed by a south-eastern ‘bloc’, the undisputed property of Apithy. In the mid-fifties a third party, the U.D.D., appeared, to absorb the residual elements of regional (and urban) support left outside the Maga and Apithy fiefs.

The Rhetoric of Centre–Periphery Relations

THIS article is an attempt to explore the frames of reference of two disciplines-political science and social anthropology-as they affect the study of relations between the national centre and the local periphery in African countries. It is exploratory, in that it reviews the assumptions and concepts characteristic of the disciplines, instead of trying to crystallise a new model. In the light of this comparison it then considers the status of what Clifford Geertz has called the cliches of

The three-party system in Dahomey: II, 1956–1957

By the end of 1955, territorial politics in Dahomey were dominated by three parties, the P.R.D. of S. M. Apithy, the M.D.D. of Hubert Maga, and the U.D.D. of Justin Ahomadegbe and others. Each party relied upon electoral support in clearly defined regions: the P.R.D. depended on the south-east, the M.D.D. on the north, and the U.D.D. on the residual areas of central and south-western Dahomey. The U.D.D. claimed, however, to be a new kind of party, transcending the narrow regionalism of its rivals and commanding ‘mass’ support rather than the uncertain and conditional support provided by ‘vote contractors’. The loi-cadre reforms of 1956—7 led to an intensification of party activity, since they provided for the creation of territorial executives founded on electoral majorities and at the same time introduced universal suffrage. The 1957 Territorial Assembly elections were therefore a testing-ground for the tactics and strength of the three parties. Under pressure from the P.R.D., the U.D.D. adopted selection procedures like those of its rival. Outside the main towns, its campaigning was similar, concentrating on local issues to the exclusion of the wider questions on which the U.D.D. had hoped to take its stand.

The United States and the external aviation policy of the EU

Abstract This article examines the impact of deregulation in both the US and the EU (European Union) on both public policy and corporate strategy regarding air transport across the North Atlantic. It argues that deregulation is too often treated as an essentially domestic phenomenon and that analysis too often ignores the interplay between the actions of governments and the strategic decisions of business managements. The article also examines at length the dilemmas of European airlines facing a new and invigorated group of American competitors, as well as the efforts of the European Commission to persuade member states of the desirability of joint negotiation with third parties over international air services.

Africa, the American Intelligentsia, and the Shadow of Vietnam

In 1965, Charles Frankel, a philosopher and an assistant secretary of state in the Johnson administration, remarked that the role of intellectuals in international affairs had been curiously neglected. Since then, a greater sensitivity to the sociology of knowledge and to the resilience of intellectual orthodoxies has perhaps made students more aware of the power that stereotypes and analogies can exercise. Intellectuals, as Frankel noted, are the principal engineers and salespersons of the very language used in international relations, the creators and promoters of its symbols and concepts. His description of their activities merits extended quotation:

American Intellectuals and African Nationalists, 1955-1970

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