Abstract
Tocqueville maintained that civil associations—associations without political objectives—were essential to a vibrant democratic society where individuals sharing common concerns, interests, and views had the freedom to organize civil associations to make their opinions heard and to influence government policy.2 In democratic societies, civil associations engaged in a myriad of religious, moral, economic, commercial, social, cultural, intellectual, and recreational activities and provided public goods and services outside the realm of the state. By instilling in their members habits of cooperation, solidarity, and concern for the public interest, civil associations contributed to the effectiveness and stability of democratic government.3
If men are to remain civilized or to become civilized, the art of association must develop and improve among them at the same speed as equality of conditions.1
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Chapter Seven The Art of Association
Robert D. Putnam, Making Democracy Work: Civil Traditions in Modern Italy (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993), pp. 89–91. Putnam built on Tocqueville’s analysis to develop his thesis that civil associations provided the foundation for democratic culture.
Robert L. Tignor, “Senegal’s Cooperative Experience, 1907–1960,” in John Waterbury and Mark Gersovitz (eds.), The Political Economy of Risk and Choice in Senegal (London: Frank Cass, 1987), pp. 90–122.
Charles, Diané, La FEANF et les grandes heures du mouvement syndical étudiant noir (Paris: Editions Chaka, 1990).
For the diverse types of associations in Dakar, see Michèle O’Deyé-Finzi, Les Associations en Villes Africaines, Dakar-Brazzaville (Paris: Editions L’Harmattan, 1985).
For an excellent survey of the literature on voluntary associations in Africa during the colonial period, see Immanuel Wallerstein, “Voluntary Associations,” in James S. Coleman and Carl Rosberg, Jr. (eds.), Political Parties and National Integration in Tropical Africa (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1964), pp. 318–339.
Thomas Hodgkin, Nationalism in Colonial Africa (New York: New York University Press, 1957), pp. 84–92.
For the party-state in Mali’s attempts to organize the population into a comprehensive network of official associations, see Claude Meillasoux, The Urbanization of an African Community: Voluntary Associations in Bamako (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1968), pp. 69–72.
For a description of this transformation of Diola age-grade work parties to village-level youth associations, see Francis F. Snyder, Capitalism and Legal Change: An African Transformation (NewYork: Academic Press, 1981), pp. 173–197.
These included peasant movements like the Association des Jeunes Agriculteurs de Casamance (AJAC), which was founded in 1974 by young farmers. For more on AJAC, see Daniel Descendre, L’Autodétermination Paysanne en Afrique: Solidarité ou Tutelle des O.NG. Parténaires? (Paris: Editions L’Harmattan, 1991), pp. 79–105.
For details on the spread of weekly markets in Senegal, see Regina Van Chi-Bonnardel, Vie de Relations au Senegal: La circulation des Méru (Dakar: IFAN, 1978), pp. 643–680 and
Donna Perry, “Rural Weekly Markets and the Dynamics of Time, Space and Community in Senegal,”Journal of Modern African Studies, Vol. 38, No. 3 (2000), pp. 461–486.
See Robert Putnam’s chapter on the Progressive Era in Bowling Alone (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000), pp. 367–401.
For a detailed analysis of these forces, see Ibrahima Thioub, Momar-Coumba Diop, and Catherine Boone, “Economic Liberalization in Senegal: Shifting Politics of Indigenous Business Interests,” African Studies Review, Vol. 41, No. 2 (September 1998), pp. 63–89.
For the impact of FONGS in the creation of a broad-based peasant movement see Gudrun Lachenmann, “Civil Society and Social Movements in Africa,” in Jean-Pierre Jacob and Philippe Lavigne Delville (eds.), Les Associations paysannes en Afrique: Organisation et dynamiques (Paris: Karthala, 1994), pp. 74–77.
Momar-Coumba Diop, La lutte contre la pauvrété à Dakar: her sune définition d’une politique municipale (Dakar: Nouvelles Imprimeries du Sénégal, 1996), pp. 175–177.
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© 2005 Sheldon Gellar
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Gellar, S. (2005). The Art of Association. In: Democracy in Senegal. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781403982162_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781403982162_7
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