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Ivory Coast
Index
The reforms of 1956, or loi cadre, passed by the
French
Fourth Republic, acknowledged the growing nationalism and
a
developing political consciousness in the AOF. From its
inception,
the loi cadre drew on the suggestions of African
leaders who
were permitted to participate in the decision-making
process.
Conceptually, the loi cadre ended the
integrationalist
phase of French colonial policy and granted considerable
internal
autonomy to the overseas territories. Universal suffrage
and the
elimination of the dual college electoral system led to
the
creation of district and local representative councils and
a great
enlargement of the powers of the territorial assemblies.
Each
territory could formulate its own domestic policies,
although the
territories continued to rely on France for decisions
concerning
foreign affairs, defense, higher education, and economic
aid. As
its most important provision, the loi cadre
established the
Council of Government, which assumed the major executive
functions
of each territory, until that time carried out by a
colonial
official appointed in Paris.
After the dissolution of the French Fourth Republic in
1958,
General Charles de Gaulle, the first president of the
Fifth
Republic, had even more extensive reforms written into a
new
constitution, reflecting not only de Gaulle's own
pragmatic and
anti-imperialist ideas but also the economic and political
changes
that had occurred since 1946. The French constitution of
1958,
creating the Fifth Republic, provided for the free
association of
autonomous republics within the newly created French
Community, in
which France was the senior partner. The community had
jurisdiction
over foreign policy, defense, currency, common ethnic and
financial
policy, policy on strategic raw materials, and, unless
specifically
excluded by agreement, higher education, internal and
external
communications, and the courts. An elected president, who
was also
the president of the Fifth Republic, presided over the
community's
executive, which consisted of an executive council and a
senate
elected indirectly by each member state in proportion to
the
population. Each member state was to have its own
government and a
separate constitution.
In September 1958, France presented a referendum to the
community. Each member could accept the constitution and
consequent
membership in the community or reject it and immediately
sever all
ties with France. Côte d'Ivoire voted almost unanimously
in favor
of the constitution, further confirming the almost
mystical feeling
of brotherhood with France that more than fifty years of
cultural
assimilation had instilled, particularly among the
economic and
political elite. The elite prudently recognized that
although Côte
d'Ivoire was the wealthiest French African territory, it
lacked the
financial resources and the trained work force to develop
as
rapidly as it could as a member of the community. Also,
because
Africanization of high-level posts within the government
had barely
begun in 1957, too few trained Ivoirians were available to
staff
the administration. A continued association with France
was seen as
the pragmatic course.
In March 1959, Côte d'Ivoire adopted its first
constitution as
a self-governing republic. It provided for a unicameral
legislature
elected by universal, direct suffrage and an executive
headed by a
prime minister elected by a majority vote of the
legislature and
responsible to it. The PDCI won all seats of the newly
formed
legislature, and Houphouët-Boigny resigned his post in the
French
government to form the first government of Côte d'Ivoire.
Data as of November 1988
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