April 2026 – Page 2 – BAOBIZZ: An African Perspective on Global Issues

Senegalese paradox: formal democracy, real immobilism

28 April 20265 April 2026 byMoustapha DIENG

View of Dakar coastline with traffic, market stalls, mosque, and African Renaissance statue

Often presented as a democratic exception in Africa, Senegal has a rare image of political stability on the continent. Civil alternations, lack of military coups d'état, intellectual and religious vitality: the picture seems flattering. Yet, behind this reassuring institutional facade, the country gives the feeling of a deep stalemate. Stability without transformation, democracy without refounding, social peace without collective projection.

Continue reading →

The Senegalese diaspora: between consumed manna and unexploited capital

4 April 20264 April 2026 byMoustapha DIENG

Every year, the Senegalese diaspora transfers more than 1,500 billion CFA francs to the country — the equivalent of more than ten per cent of the national gross domestic product. A sum that exceeds the combined budget of several ministries, which eclipses official development assistance, and which should, logically, act as a lever for structural transformation. However, the Senegalese economy is turning around. The circle of dependence continues. And the diaspora, tired of being reduced to an ATM function, begins to question the meaning of its sacrifice.

Continue reading →

Settlement settlement: historical mechanisms of deportation, settlement and dispossession

4 April 20261 April 2026 byMoustapha DIENG

In modern imperial history, it is necessary to distinguish two logics which sometimes intersect, but whose purpose is not the same. The colonization of exploitation seeks first to control resource flows (mines, plantations, trade) based on light administration and local intermediaries. Settlement settlement, however, aims at a more radical transformation: the sustainable transfer of a population from the metropolis, the establishment of stable communities, the establishment of institutions and, above all, the reconfiguration of the land and political order of the territory. This model has had its most striking expressions in the Americas and Australia, but it is also seen in other areas where the European implantation wanted to last and reproduce.

Continue reading →