Indirect Vs Direct Rule

Question 1

Which European authority approached colonial governance with direct rule?

Why?

Name three scholars who have argued this

Answer 1

France

• France colonial policy was shaped by experience of Algerian resistance. The Algerians were mobilised and efficient at war, the French believed all Algerian social structures had to be destroyed and rebuilt

Chafer, Manning, Cohen

Question 2

Name some major African states which suffered from direct rule

Answer 2

Tukalor empire

Dahomey

Question 3

Comment on what happened to local chiefs and traditional hierarchies as a result of direct rule

Answer 3

Paramount chief of the Mosi ethnic group, Mogho Naba, was reduced to local minor chief

The French installed flat systems of governance, placing European officials at the top and indigenous peoples at the bottom

Question 4

Which European power practiced indirect rule?

Who established this system?

Answer 4

Britain

Frederick Lugard

Question 5

Comment on the Sokoto Caliphate

Answer 5

The Sokoto Caliphate was too large an area for direct rule to be effective

Rather than destroying local institutions, Lugard reshaped them to align with British interest and installed chiefs of provinces

He then appointed British ‘advisers’ who would be stationed at every headquarters to assist local rulers, who would ultimately conduct all of the real administration

Question 6

Who wrote Citizen and Subject?

What argument was put forward?

Answer 6

Mahmood Mamdani

African agents of colonialism enjoyed a form of ‘decentralised despotism’

Also, colonial governments rejected citizens rights to criticise the concentration of authority - thus monopolising chieftaincy

Question 7

What did Robin Robinson argue?

What journal was this published in?

Answer 7

Studies in imperialism

Colonial rule was a product of collaboration between African and European rulers

• the undermanned colonial regimes could only operate efficiently through the employment of local allies on the continent