The influence of traditional and religious groups on modern
politics is a significant factor in the development of many
countries. In this volume Lucy C. Behrman investigates the
political role of religious organizations in the West African
country of Senegal.
She introduces her study with analyses of the historical
conditions under which the Muslim brotherhoods emerged as a
political force and of the ways in which the pattern of relations
was established. The Senegalese brotherhoods are tightly-knit
organizations, each led by a marabu. whose disciples depend on him
in secular as well as religious matters. The political authority of
the marabus grew out of the disintegration of the tribal system in
the late nineteenth century, when the marabus replaced the nobles
as political leaders. The French then reinforced the marabus' power
by using them as intermediaries and by helping those who cooperated
with the colonial regime to defeat those who did not.
Upon independence in 1960. Senegalese politicians adopted the
pattern of cooperation established by the French. Behrman,
examining the present role of the brotherhoods, analyzes their
inter-relationships as well as their relations with political
parties, government officials, the government reform program, and
modern Muslim reform groups. She reveals that Senegalese officials
often defer to the opinion of the strongest marabus and that, in
times of crisis or uncertainty with in the government party, the
Union Progressiste Senegalaise, they turn to the marabus for
support. She also shows that, although the Muslim leaders occupy
such a privileged position in Senegalese society, they do not
actually control the government, which issecularand modern in form
and is led by Western-educated men devoted to a program of
industrialization and agricultural and social reform.x
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