Which policy made the colonised French West African partners with France in her colonial project?

Analyze the question: The question asks which French colonial policy treated the colonised people as partners with France in the colonial project. The key word is "partners."

Explain the concepts:

• Assimilation: The French aimed to turn Africans into "Frenchmen" by making them adopt French language, culture, and law. Africans were treated as subjects to be transformed, not as partners. It was the earlier policy, and few Africans qualified as citizens (the évolués).
• Association: This policy came later, after assimilation was seen as impractical and costly. It recognised that Africans had their own cultures and institutions, and it allowed them to keep these while cooperating with France. Africans were treated as partners in the colonial administration, with local chiefs and institutions used alongside French authority.
• Indirect rule: This is the British policy, associated with Lord Lugard in Nigeria and Northern Ghana, not a French one.
• Loi Cadre (1956): This was a framework law that granted greater internal self-government and universal suffrage in French territories. It was a step toward decolonisation, not the policy that made Africans partners in colonial rule.

Solution:

1. Eliminate C, since indirect rule is British.
2. Eliminate D, since Loi Cadre was a 1956 reform that prepared the way for independence.
3. Compare A and B. Assimilation sought to make Africans into Frenchmen, while Association saw them as partners who kept their own cultures within the French system.
4. The word "partners" points to Association.

Correct answer: B. Association policy

Exam tip: Remember Assimilation = Absorb into French culture, and Association = Ally or partner. Also, whenever you see "indirect rule" in a French colonial question, it is almost always a distractor, because it is the British system.