The Political Thought of Modibo Keita

Francis G. Snyder

doi:10.1017/S0022278X00014026

The Political Thought of Modibo Keita

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 November 2008

Francis G. Snyder

Article contents

Extract
References

Get access

Rights & Permissions

Extract

Given present social, economic, and political conditions in developing countries, the political élites of these countries clearly merit study. To a great extent, ‘l'indépendance vaut ce que valent ou ce que veulent les dirigeants’ (‘independence reflects the worth or the wishes of the leaders’).1 More specifically, Mali's Modibo Keita has played an important role not only in his own country but in African politics generally. Yet little research and writing has touched on his thought on politics and related topics. This essay seeks to examine these ideas, in introductory fashion, and to provide a basis for further and more detailed research.

Type: Articles
Information: The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 5 , Issue 1 , May 1967 , pp. 79 - 106

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022278X00014026 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1967

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

^{Page 79 note 1} Badian, Seydou, Les dirigeants africains face à leur peuple (Paris, 1964), p. 11.Google Scholar All the quotations which follow have been translated for the benefit of English readers, but limited space prevents the French text being printed as well.

^{Page 79 note 2} For further discussion relevant to these distinctions, see David Apter, ‘Introduction: Ideology and Discontent’, and Geertz, Clifford, ‘Ideology as a Cultural System’, in Apter, David (ed.), Ideology and Discontent (New York, 1964);Google ScholarDeutsch, Karl W. and Rieselbach, Leroy N., ‘Recent Trends in Political Theory and Political Philosophy,’ The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science (Philadelphia), CCCLX, 07 1965, supplement, pp. 139–62, particularly pp. 139–41;Google Scholar and Mannheim, Karl, Ideology and Utopia, transl. Wirth, Louis and Shils, Edward (New York, 1936).Google Scholar

^{Page 80 note 1} See Foltz, William J., From French West Africa to the Mali Federation (New Haven, 1965), pp. 119–32 and 203–14;Google ScholarGrundy, Kenneth W., ‘Mali: the prospects of planned socialism’, in Friedland, William H. and Rosberg, Carl G. Jr. (eds.), African Socialism (Stanford, 1963), pp. 175–93;Google ScholarGrundy, Kenneth W., ‘Marxism-Leninism and African Underdevelopment: the Mali approach,’ in International Journal (Toronto), XVII, 3, Summer 1962, pp. 300–4;Google ScholarHodgkin, Thomas and Morgenthau, Ruth Schachter, ‘Mali’, in Coleman, James S. and Rosberg, Carl G. Jr. (eds.), Political Parties and National Integration in Tropical Africa (Berkeley, 1964), pp. 216–58, especially pp. 246–57;Google ScholarMorgenthau, Ruth Schachter, Political Parties in French-Speaking West Africa (Oxford, 1964), pp. 255–300;Google ScholarSnyder, Frank Gregory, One-Party Government in Mali (New Haven, 1965), pp. 88–101.Google Scholar

^{Page 81 note 1} On the first point, see, for example, his statement that past and present generations voluntarily undergo hardships and struggle in order that future generations may lead fuller lives; Essor (Bamako), 7 02 1966.Google Scholar On the second point, see his speech on the occasion of the Fête internationale du I mai 1966 (ibid. 3 May 1966) and another of early 1965 to the Malian National Assembly (ibid. 1 March 1965). Hereafter, all speeches cited are those of Modibo Keita unless otherwise noted.

^{Page 81 note 2} Speech on Africa Day, 25 May 1964; ibid. 26 May 1964.

^{Page 81 note 3} Speech of 28 July 1962; ibid. 6 August 1962.

^{Page 81 note 4} Speech in Bouaké, Ivory Coast; ibid. 27 August 1962.

^{Page 81 note 5} Speech at the National Conference of cadres of the Union nationale des travailleurs du Mali (hereafter U.N.T.M.); ibid. 14 January 1963. See also his closing speech at the meeting of the Ecole supérieure des cadres, Bamako, 9 September 1964;Google Scholaribid. 14 September 1964.

^{Page 82 note 1} Compare Charles Andrain's observations on Touré, Sékou in ‘Democracy and Socialism: ideologies of African leaders’, in Apter (ed.), Ideology and Discontent, p. 174,Google Scholar and Keita's speeches closing the meeting of the Ecole supérieure des cadres, 9 September 1964 (Essor, 14 September 1964) and opening the first General Congress of the U.N.T.M., 24 July 1963; ibid. 29 July 1963. See also Zolberg, A. R., Creating Political Order: the pary-staics of West Africa (Chicago, 1966), especially pp. 37–65.Google Scholar

^{Page 82 note 2} For a general statement of this view, see his speech at the Fête de l'armée malienne, 20 February 1965; ibid. 22 February 1965.

^{Page 82 note 3} Keita, Modibo, ‘The Foreign Policy of Mali,’ in International Affairs (London), XXXVII, 4 10 1961, p. 434.Google Scholar

^{Page 82 note 4} Editorial in Essor, 19 August 1963.

^{Page 82 note 5} Speech closing the third week of the Jeunesse de l'union soudanaise-R.D.A. (J.U.S.R.D.A.); ibid. 20 July 1964.

^{Page 83 note 1} Speech after investiture as President of Mali by the National Assembly, 13 May 1964; ibid. 26 May 1964.

^{Page 83 note 2} See Hodgkin and Morgenthau, op. cit. pp. 219–21.

^{Page 83 note 3} Foltz. op. cit. p. 214.

^{Page 83 note 4} Apter, David, The Politics of Modernization (Chicago, 1965), p. 81.Google Scholar

^{Page 83 note 5} Sidibé, Mamby, ‘L'Avenir de notre république’, in Essor, 10 02 1964.Google Scholar

^{Page 84 note 1} See his speech of 28 July 1962; ibid. 6 August 1962.

^{Page 84 note 2} ‘Modibo Keita parle (et répond aux questions de notre envoyé spécial Justin Vieyra)’, in Jeune Afrique (Tunis & Paris), 280, 8 05 1966;Google Scholar hereafter cited as ‘Modibo Keita pane’.

^{Page 84 note 3} Ibid. He cites, as another prime reason for the coups d'état, domestic political situations, particularly the lack of effective integration and communication between leaders and the rest of the population.

^{Page 84 note 4} Ibid.

^{Page 84 note 5} Foltz, op. cit. p. 127, quoting Diarra, Idrissa, Congrès extraordinaire de l'Union soudanaise R.D.A., le 22 septembre 1960 (Koulouba, 1960)Google Scholar.

^{Page 85 note 1} Editorial in Essor, 16 July 1962, quoting speech by Modibo Keita to the Mali National Assembly. For Keita's comments on the economic effects of this creation, see ‘Modibo Keita pane’, p. 10. See also the criticism of the currency reform as economically, though not politically, unrealistic, by Grundy, , ‘Mali: the prospects of planned socialism’, in Friedland and Rosberg (eds.), African Socialism, pp. 188–9.Google Scholar For recent reports on Mali's monetary negotiations with France, see ‘Mali–Six Years After’, in West Africa (London), 21 01 1967, pp. 79–81, and 28 01 1967, pp. 115–16.Google Scholar

^{Page 85 note 2} Speech on Journée de l'Afrique, 25 May 1964; Essor, 26 May 1964.

^{Page 85 note 3} ‘Modibo Keita parle’.

^{Page 86 note 1} Speech at the Fifth Economic Conference of the Region of Bamako; Essor, 25 January 1965.

^{Page 86 note 2} ‘La Politique du Mali’, Texte intégral de la conférence depresse du Président Modibo Keita à Alger 21 08 1964 (Bamako, n.d., 1964?),Google Scholar hereafter cited as ‘La Politique du Mali’.

^{Page 86 note 3} Speech at the Lycée Notre-Dame du Niger; Essor, 7 February 1966.

^{Page 86 note 4} Ibid. 4 January 1965.

^{Page 86 note 5} Declaration by Modibo Keita, concerning particularly the Organisation of African Unity conference at Addis Ababa; ibid. 29 July 1963.

^{Page 87 note 1} Speech by Tidiani Keita at the first conference of the U.S.-R.D.A. section of Gourma-Rharous; ibid. 15 July 1963.

^{Page 87 note 2} Speech at the closing of the first Stage national de formation accélérée de journalistes, 23 May 1962, published as ‘Préface’ to Le Mali en marche (Bamako, 1962),Google Scholar hereafter cited as ‘Preface’.

^{Page 87 note 3} Speech of 22 September 1964, at the Fête nationale du Mali; Essor, 28 September 1964.

^{Page 87 note 4} Speech of 24 Ju1y 1963, to U.N.T.M.; ibid. 29 July 1963. For a discussion of this and related points by another Mali leader, see the chapter ‘Creer le militant’, in Badian, Seydou, Les dirigeants africains face à leur peuple, pp. 97–117.Google Scholar

^{Page 88 note 1} Speech of 13 April 1965 to the Comité directeur of the Union panafricaine des journalistes; Essor, 19 April 1965.

^{Page 88 note 2} ‘La Politiquedu Mali’, p. 17.

^{Page 88 note 3} Ibid. For discussion of the use of the political organisation, including at its outer fringes the judicial system, against party opponents, see Snyder, op. cit. pp. 113–14 and 157–60; DuBois, Victor D., ‘Mali Five Years After the Referendum’, in American Universities Field Staff, Reports Service, West Africa Series, VI, 3, 05 1963, pp. 8–13;Google Scholar‘The People's Court in the Republic of Mali’, in Bulletin of the International Commission of Jurists (Geneva), 16, 07 1963, pp. 20–8;Google Scholar and Essor, June-October 1962.

^{Page 88 note 4} Essor, 3 January 1966.

^{Page 89 note 1} Speech at the Fifth Economic Conference of the Region of Bamako; ibid. 25 January 1965 (italics in original). Compared the ideas of Sékou Touré and Senghor, L. S. in Hazard, John N., ‘Négritude, Socialism and the Law’, in Columbia Law Review (New York), LXV, 05 1965, pp. 779–80,Google Scholar and Skurnik, Walter A. E., ‘Léopold Sédar Senghor and African Socialism’, in The Journal of Modern African Studies (Cambridge), III, 3, 1965.Google Scholar

^{Page 89 note 2} Speech of 30 August 1962 in the Ivory Coast; Essor, 3 September 1962. For further discussion relating to the concept of the peasantry as the repository of fundamental African and Mali virtues, which the elite is in danger of losing but must not lose entirely, either in terms of values or psychological identity, see Pye, Lucian W., Politics, Personality and Nation-Building (New Haven, 1962), p. 53;Google Scholar Foltz, op. cit. pp.522–3; and Snyder, op. cit. pp.93–4.

^{Page 89 note 3} ‘Préface’, p. 19.

^{Page 89 note 4} Speech closing the fourth week of the J.U.S.R.D.A.; Essor, 12 July 1965. See Foltz, op. cit. pp. 121–2, and authors cited there.

^{Page 90 note 1} Speech of 28 July 1962; Essor, 6 August 1962.

^{Page 90 note 2} Ibid.

^{Page 90 note 3} Speech of 30 August 1962, in the Ivory Coast; ibid. 3 September 1962.

^{Page 90 note 4} Speech in Bamako; ibid. 28 December 1964.

^{Page 90 note 5} Cf. Apter, David, The Politics of Modernization, pp. 294–5.Google Scholar See also the articles in Geertz, Clifford (ed.), Old Societies and New States (New York, 1963),Google Scholar especially Geertz, ‘The Integrative Revolution: primordial sentiments and civil politics in the new states’.

^{Page 90 note 6} Speech at Gao; Essor, 17 February 1964.

^{Page 91 note 1} Speech to participants in the second Séminaire des éducateurs syndicaux; Essor, 27 December 1965. This emphasis on self-discipline as a moral imperative is illustrated in Keita's definition of ‘bourgeois’ in moral terms; ‘Préface’, p. 11.

^{Page 91 note 2} Essor, 15 November 1965.

^{Page 91 note 3} Government decree no. 153 P.G.-R.M. of 5 November 1965; Essor, 3 May 1966. See also his definition of courage, a prime virtue of the party militant, in terms of sacrifice, self-discipline, and work, in his speech at the J.U.S.R.D.A., Essor, 22 July 1965.

^{Page 91 note 4} Apter, , The Politics of Modernization, pp. 269–70.Google Scholar

^{Page 92 note 1} Diallo, Sidy Yaté, ‘Le Sens du renoncement’; Essor, 14 02 1966.Google Scholar

^{Page 92 note 2} Speech of 1 May 1966; ibid. 3 May 1966.

^{Page 93 note 1} Foltz, op. cit. pp. 209–10.

^{Page 93 note 2} Apter, David, ‘Political Religion in the New Nations’, in Geertz (ed.), Old Societies and New States, p. 90.Google Scholar

^{Page 93 note 3} Speech at Niafunké; Essor, 11 November 1963.

^{Page 94 note 1} Apter, , ‘Political Religion in the New Nations’, p. 61.Google Scholar

^{Page 94 note 2} Essor, 18 November 1963.

^{Page 94 note 3} Speech on the third anniversary of Mali independence; Essor, 30 September 1963.

^{Page 94 note 4} ‘Préface’, p. 12.

^{Page 95 note 1} ‘La Politique du Mali’, p. 10.

^{Page 95 note 2} See the following writings by Keita, Madeira, Minister of Justice: ‘Le Parti unique en Afrique’, Présence africaine (Paris), 30, 02–03 1960, PP. 3–24,Google Scholar and ‘Le Mali et la recherche d'une socialisme africaine’, cited by Kenneth Grundy in ‘Marxism-Leninism and African Underdevelopment: the Mali approach’, p. 301. See the following by Seydou Badian Kouyaté, former Minister of Rural Development: Les dirigeants africains face à leur peuple; and ‘Intervention du Docteur [Seydou Badian] Kouyaté, Séance du mercredi 5 décembre 1962’, in Colloque sur les politiques de développement et les divers voies africaines vers le socialisme, Dakar, 3–8 décembre 1962 (Paris, 1963).Google Scholar See generally Essor, the Union soudanaise newspaper, for writings by Diarra, the political secretary of the party, and by Gologo, Essor's director of publication and Minister of Information and Tourism.

^{Page 95 note 3} Speech by Keita, Modibo in Congrés extraordinaire de l'U.S.R.D.A., 1e 22 septembre 1960 (Koulouba, 1960).Google Scholar

^{Page 95 note 4} Statutes of the Union soudanaise-R.D.A., ch. r, articles 1 and 2.

^{Page 96 note 1} Speech at the Conférence nationale des cadres de l' U.N. T. M.; Essor, 14 January 1963.

^{Page 96 note 2} See Snyder, op. cit. especially pp. 91–101, for further discussion.

^{Page 96 note 3} ‘A propos de la collaboration’, talk by Modibo Keita to party members; Essor, 11 January 1965. See also ‘Modibo Keita parle’.

^{Page 96 note 4} Essor, 19 february 1962.

^{Page 96 note 5} Modibo Keita, quoted by M le Premier Président de la Cour Suprême, at the installation of the Supreme Court; ibid. 3 May 1966.

^{Page 97 note 1} ‘The People's Court in the Republic of Mali’, in Bulletin of the International Committee of Jurists, 16 07 1963, pp. 25–6.Google Scholar

^{Page 97 note 2} Essor, 3 May 1966. Compare the Chinese concepts and practices discussed by Cohen, Jerome Alan, The Criminal Process in the People's Republic of China: an introduction (Harvard University Press, forthcoming).Google Scholar

^{Page 97 note 3} Essor, 24 April 1959.

^{Page 98 note 1} On the supposed educative and rehabilitative functions of Mali criminal justice, see the description of Keita's visit to the Bamako prison in Essor, 9 September 1963. On the addition of moral to penal sanctions, see the report of the Session ordinaire of the B.P.N., September 1963, in Essor, 16 September 1963.

^{Page 98 note 2} See DuBois, op. cit. pp. 9–13.

^{Page 98 note 3} Essor, 7 March 1966. Compare with Keita's speech in ‘Le Mali continue’, particularly p. 17; Snyder, op. cit. pp. 98 and 105–16; and Foltz, op. cit. pp. 126–9 and 211–53.

^{Page 98 note 4} Grundy, ‘Marxism-Leninism and African Underdevelopment: the Mali approach’, and ‘Mali: the prospects of planned socialism’, in Friedland and Rosberg (eds.), op. cit.

^{Page 98 note 5} See Zolberg, Aristide, ‘The Political Uses of Economic Planning’, in Harry Johnson (ed.), Economic Nationalism in Old and New States (forthcoming).Google Scholar

^{Page 98 note 6} Essor, 3 Janury 1966.

^{Page 98 note 7} See Keita's, comments in ‘Modibo Keita parle’, p. 10.Google Scholar See also Jeune Afrique, 299, 2 10 1966, p. 18,Google Scholar regarding criticisms of the methods of Mali socialism and the removal of Kouyaté Africa Report (Washington), 05 1966, p. 42,Google Scholar for a summary of Mali's austerity programme; and ‘Mali–Six Years After’, in West Africa, op. cit. regarding currency negotiations with France.

^{Page 99 note 1} ‘Constitution de la Republique du Mali, Titre X: De l'unité africaine’, in D.-G. Lavroff and G. Peiser (eds.), Les Constitutions africaines (Paris, 1961), vol. I, p. 173.Google Scholar

^{Page 99 note 2} See Foltz op. cit. for a description and analysis of the background and reasons for the failure of this attempt at federation.

^{Page 99 note 3} See ‘Modibo Keita parle’, pp. 10–11; ‘The Foreign Policy of Mali’, in International Affairs, XXXVII, 4, pp. 435–6;Google Scholar and ‘Préface’, pp. 16–19.

^{Page 100 note 1} Essor, 3 September 1962 and 28 September 1964.

^{Page 100 note 2} Ibid. 15 july 1963.

^{Page 100 note 3} ‘The Foreign Policy of Mali’, in International Affairs, XXXVII, 4, p. 438.Google Scholar

^{Page 100 note 4} Press conference in Bamako; Essor, 4 November 1963.

^{Page 101 note 1} ‘Modibo Keita pane’, p. 8.

^{Page 101 note 2} Essor, 6 August 1962.

^{Page 101 note 3} Ibid.

^{Page 101 note 4} ‘Préface’, p. 14.

^{Page 102 note 1} ‘Préface’, p. 16.

^{Page 103 note 1} See Andrain, Charles, ‘Democracy and Socialism: ideologies of African leaders’, in Apter, Ideology and Discontent, p. 156.Google Scholar

^{Page 103 note 2} Hodgkin, Thomas, ‘Islam and National Movements in West Africa,’ in The Journal of African History (Cambridge), III, 2, 1962.Google Scholar For further discussion of the influence of Islam on modern Mali, see Hodgkin and Morgenthau, op. cit.

^{Page 104 note 1} This essay has remained at the level of ‘forensic’ ideology, as discussed by Zolberg, , Creating Political Order, p. 59Google Scholar and passim.

^{Page 104 note 2} Huxley, Aldous, Island (New York, 1963), p. 190.Google Scholar

^{Page 105 note 1} For a bibliography on this subject, see Black, C. E., ‘The Study of Modernization: a bibliographical essay’, in his The Dynamics of Modernization (New York, 1966), pp. 175–99.Google Scholar See also pp. 7 and 54 for his definition of modernisation.

^{Page 106 note 1} A beginning in this area is Sy, Seydou Madani, Recherches sur l'exercice du pouvoir politique en Afrique noire (Paris, 1965).Google Scholar

Article contents

The Political Thought of Modibo Keita

Extract

Access options

References

Save article to Kindle

Save article to Dropbox

Save article to Google Drive

Reply to: Submit a response

Your details

You have entered the maximum number of contributors

Conflicting interests