Human Capital and Cabinet Formation in Senegal

• In Event: Spatial Dimensions of Inequality

Abstract

This is a chapter of my book project “Unequal Education: The Origins of Elite Power in Contemporary Africa.” The chapter illustrates why colonial education helps account for differences in political representation across Senegalese regions.
Abstract. Since independence in 1960, I find that a similar share of ministers (14-15%) has hailed from Dakar and from Saint-Louis, the two main cities and historical regions in the country. However, Saint-Louis’ population was 10 times smaller than Dakar’s already in the 1900s, and the demographic divergence has continued to increase. Why is Saint-Louis the most over-represented region in Senegalese cabinets? Regional favoritism in the form of cabinet-level patronage cannot explain the case of Saint-Louis because no Senegalese president has been born there. Further, Saint-Louis ceased to be the political capital of French West Africa in 1902 and of Senegal in 1960, both times in favor of Dakar. Nonetheless, I show that Saint-Louis remained the education capital of Senegal for much of the colonial period in spite of its progressive economic decline. I argue that this is critically important to understand its political over-representation in government because Senegalese presidents have emphasized the importance of human capital and technical expertise when composing their cabinets. This is in stark contrast to most accounts, which caricature African presidents as cynical and solely focused on short-term ethnic and conflict-prevention considerations.
A companion chapter in the book on Uganda shows the utility of considering regional differences through ethnic and conflict-prevention lenses in some African countries but the futility of doing so in others, such as Senegal, building on work by Dominika Koter. Overall, the book relies on thousands of ministerial biographies for Senegal and 15 other East and West African countries to argue that the role of colonial education and the resulting human capital is central to African politics but has been overlooked by a literature focused on ethnicity.

Author

• Joan Ricart-Huguet, Loyola University Maryland