Consultation councils were designed to co-opt elites and defuse evolué discontent.

Evidence

These various reforms, although similar to Dakar’s earlier decisions to return chiefs to office, went beyond them in two respects. They introduced the principle of consultation, and they acknowledged for the first time the aspirations of the evolues. Merlin apparently believed that future misunderstandings could be avoided if the administration had a means of keeping up with the sentiments and aspirations of those among their subjects who had appeared most unhappy with French rule: traditional notables and the younger generation. Rural communes and councils of notables also appeared designed to help the administration in a more subtle way. As Merlin’s emphasis upon public education suggests, he saw in these institutions a chance to make the rural elite more modern leaders in their own right. Implicit in this argument was the assumption that only by becoming more forward-looking could chiefs hope to retain their prestige before the impatient and uprooted evolues, and thus prevent the latter from challenging the French. — Alice L. Conklin, A Mission to Civilize_ The Republican…, 675

Categorization

• XREF: Directly serves the reader’s stated purpose on how republicanism was forced into West Africa and its containment rationale.