Gramsci and the Legitimization of the State: The Case of the Senegalese Passive Revolution

Abstract

AbstractThis article uses some of the fundamental conceptualizations of Antonio Gramsci to understand the political process in Senegal. It analyzes how the ruling class responded to the “organic crisis” generated by a dependent type of capitalist underdevelopment. It contends that this response embodied a “passive revolution” whereby potentially revolutionary forces were decapitated through the co-optation of their leading cadres in a reformed framework of political representation. The article suggests also that the contours and substance of the passive revolution reflected the “hegemonic project” elaborated by the “organic intellectuals” of Senegal. These intellectuals sought to establish a new “hegemony” capable of legitimizing the rule of a reinvigorated ruling class. Yet, because this new hegemony was founded on the basis of the passive revolution it never reached the masses and it generated therefore widespread popular scepticism and cynicism.