Senegal is often seen as a model of democracy in Africa. The changing character of Senegalese political life since independence has been paralleled by just as many changes in the literature about it. Initially most work tended to focus on the long history and rooted character of Senegalese democratic culture. This was essentially an urban-based political history centred on the lives of an enlightened class of évolués, African elites with a French education. In various shades, subsequent authors described how the powerful Muslim brotherhoods functioned as mechanisms for political integration in the countryside: in exchange for agricultural services and other resources channelled to client marabouts, the party-state could count on the votes of the disciples attached to these marabouts (Copans 1980; Coulon 1981). Cruise O'Brien (1975, 1992) analysed this procedure as a way to bring the state back home to people. Towards the end of the 1970s, when authoritarianism was at an all-time high in Africa, Senegal brought the de facto one-party state to an end and returned to a limited version of competitive politics. This, coupled with the voluntary departure of President Senghor from office in 1980, replaced by his young Prime Minister Abdou Diouf, gave birth to the idea of a ‘Senegalese success story’ (Diop & Diouf 1990).

Senegal is therefore remarkable in the sense that it had a competitive political party system rooted in a democratic culture well before the ‘third wave’ of democratisation hit Africa from 1989.