Associationism predated 1919 but was rejected under earlier governors

Evidence

Association was not, of course, an original concept in 1919. As Raymond Betts has shown, Parisian theorists since the expansion of the empire under the Third Republic had advocated some form of government by association for their overseas territories, predicated upon respect for indigenous cultures, and administration through preexisting native political structures. If the first tenet of association had influenced the Government General before the war, the notion that precolonial institutions in West Africa should be preserved had seemed inappropriate under Roume and Panty. — Alice L. Conklin, A Mission to Civilize_ The Republican…, 650

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines ‘association’ as a doctrine of governance through preexisting native structures and respect for indigenous cultures.