Ponty centralized native-policy power in Dakar following an 1907-08 inspection mission

Evidence

One of Panty’s first acts as governor general was to reorganize the various bureaus of the federal administration, in such a way as to give himself the preeminent say in native policy decisions that had previously been made by individual governors. In carrying out this reorganization, however, Panty was not acting entirely on his own initiative. Between I907 and I908, an important mission of inspection in West Africa, under the direction of Inspector Guyho, had criticized as expensive and inefficient the hierarchy of services Roume created in I905.5 This mission-one of the few to arrive in West Africa before World War I-had also complained about inadequate health and educational facilities in the federation, citing several cases of mistreatment of Africans. Such missions of inspection had been part of French overseas administrative practice since I 8 I 5, when the Colonial Inspectorate was first created. The purpose of this special bureau was to provide the government in Paris with a periodic review of colonial administration in the empire. In response to the Guyho inspection’s criticisms, which the colonial minister seconded, Panty abolished the office of secretary general. This eliminated all intermediaries between himself and the heads of the different services and the governor general and the lieutenant governors. 7 The governor general alone would now make all final decisions. Panty also reserved to himself the formulation of what he called general policy-that is to say, any social, economic, or political measure affecting French relations with Africans. — Alice L. Conklin, A Mission to Civilize_ The Republican…, 375

Categorization

• XREF: Centralization as a technology of empire parallels the later scholarship on ‘imperial state formation’ — connects to broader theories of how colonial administration consolidates power at the federal capital.