Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 November 2008
Ten years ago Kenneth Robinson published ‘A Survey of the Background Material for the Study of Government in French Tropical Africa’, in The American Political Science Review (Washington), L, 1956, pp. 179–98. In the absence of published studies dealing directly with government and politics in French African colonies, his survey was necessarily limited largely to official publications and to studies of French colonial policy, legal and constitutional developments, and ethnography. At the same time Thomas Hodgkin's Nationalism in Colonial Africa (London, Muller, 1956), the first and perhaps the most successful attempt to analyse and compare postwar political and social developments, had to rely on a few sociological studies for relevant material on French colonies. At that time, Hodgkin's own articles in West Africa (London) and a few articles by Robinson were the only available pieces of published research on politics in this area.
Page 590 note 1 A somewhat mild critique of an exhaustive list of writing on the history of French colonies in Africa can be found in Pasquier, Roger, ‘Chronique de l'histoire coloniale: l'Afrique noire d'expression francaise’, in Revue française de l'histoire d'outre-mer (Paris), XLVIII, 1961, pp. 438–57; L, 1963, pp. 74–529 and 382–535Google Scholar. Johnson, G. Wesley Jr, gives a clear guide to historical research facilities in ‘The Archival System of Former French West Africa”, in African Studies Bulletin (Stanford), VIII, 1965, pp. 48–58.Google Scholar
Page 594 note 1 For a similar evaluation of the work of French political science on Africa, see Boyon, Jacques, ‘Pouvoir et autorité en Afrique noire: état des travaux’, in Revue française de science politique, XIII, 1963, especially P. 1007–8.Google Scholar
Page 605 note 1 For a survey of this literature, see Packenham, Robert A., ‘Approaches to the Study of Political Development’, in World Politics, xvii, 1964, pp. 108–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar