French colonial ideology and governance policy shifted together toward association in the interwar period.

Evidence

In the I 92o’s, Dakar did not discreetly initiate certain political changes while maintaining intact its former doctrine that all chiefs were bloody tyrants and that Africans had to evolve gradually in their own cultures. It simultaneously revised its official definition of how best to uplift Africans. The two phenomena were not unrelated. As an analysis of the statements by Merlin that accompanied his reforms will show, Dakar’s postwar ideology changed in exactly the same direction as its native policy. During the interwar period, the policy of association was seen not only as politically expedient but also as essential to the civilizing of Africans. — Alice L. Conklin, A Mission to Civilize_ The Republican…, 677

Categorization

• XREF: Core to the reader’s purpose: ideology and policy moved in tandem, making association appear essential to civilization.