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CONTEMPORARY AFRICAN POLITICAL ECONOMY

Party Proliferation and

Political Contestation
in Africa
Senegal in Comparative
Perspective

Catherine Lena Kelly

Contemporary African Political Economy

Series Editor
Eunice N. Sahle
University of North Carolina Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC, USA
Series Editor Eunice N. Sahle is Associate Professor with a joint appointment
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 Catherine Lena Kelly

Party Proliferation
and Political
Contestation in Africa
Senegal in Comparative Perspective
Catherine Lena Kelly
American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative
Washington, DC, USA

Contemporary African Political Economy

ISBN 978-3-030-19616-5    ISBN 978-3-030-19617-2 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-19617-2

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To my families in Dakar and Lawrence, with special thanks to Baaba
Diallo and my mother Mary Byrd Kelly.
 Foreword

What are the roles and functions of political parties in the complex democ-
racies of Africa? For those immersed in the political practices of Western
democracies, the temptation may be to apply Western models and assump-
tions to answer the question. Granted, to a limited degree this approach
would be correct: in Africa as elsewhere the political party serves as the
basic building block of civic engagement and political activity. So, too, the
active presence of several parties is one of the identifying characteristics of
a functioning democracy (so much so that the term “multi-party democ-
racy” is, when examined, somewhat a redundancy). But to assume that
political party behavior in Africa models that of parties in the West would
be a profound mistake. As Catherine Kelly demonstrates in Party
Proliferation and Political Contestation in Africa: Senegal in Comparative
Perspective, the reality is much more complex.
Dr. Kelly’s successful effort to unpack that complexity begins by tracing
the phenomenon of political party proliferation in Senegal. After indepen-
dence in 1960, Senegal was a single-party authoritarian state ruled by the
Socialist Party. In the mid-1970s, the president permitted the first “party
of contribution” to the ruling Socialist Party (1974) and allowed for the
establishment of three ideologically distinct parties (1976). When unlim-
ited party formation became legal in 1981, 14 parties registered to com-
pete in the newfound political space. Today, party formation has accelerated
and there are nearly 300 registered parties in Senegal.
As these elevated numbers suggest, the research challenge confronting
the effort to understand Senegalese party dynamics was inherently daunt-
ing. The challenge was nonetheless met: Party Proliferation is the deeply

vii
viii FOREWORD

and meticulously researched product of 18 months of intensive fieldwork

in Senegal and almost 175 interviews of political elites (party leaders, min-
isters, Members of Parliament, human rights activists, journalists, trade
union members, and local elected officials) along with various forms of
archival research and data-gathering. Among those interviewed were 46
individuals who had registered new political parties in Senegal from 1998
to 2003, critical primary sources who were difficult to identify and locate.
The important core findings of Party Proliferation are key to an under-
standing of Senegalese politics and help illuminate party politics elsewhere
in Africa. Dr. Kelly writes that “while the logics of party creation are mul-
tiple and various opposition parties in Senegal are created to contest elec-
tions, many other party leaders run organizations that function primarily
to obtain patronage that does not depend on regularized vote-seeking.”
And, she further notes: “Political parties formed primarily for negotiating
patronage rarely become the consistent opposition organizations that are
purported to bolster democracy and accountability.”
These findings have clear implications for the rule of law. The extreme
proliferation of political parties weakens the party system. As is the case in
Senegal, the proliferation of patronage-seeking political parties has con-
tributed in many cases to the prolongation of the rule of all-too-powerful
presidents by reducing and diffusing the ability of the political party sys-
tem to mount an effective opposition to such rule. This imbalance and
unchecked power has led to numerous setbacks in the rule of law and, at
times, the promotion of human rights.
Party Proliferation is a well-written and interesting book that advances
the understanding of the role of political parties beyond those that have
successfully placed candidates in elected office. While focused on Senegal,
the book has direct relevance to political and rule of law development in
many other countries. With this publication, Dr. Kelly has performed a
public service and notched a significant achievement.

American Bar Association

Alberto Mora
Chicago, IL, USA
Carr Center for Human Rights Policy
Harvard Kennedy School
Cambridge, MA, USA
 Acknowledgments

This book would not have been possible without the support of several
organizations and many people from Lawrence, Kansas, to the Cité Cap
Verdienne in Dakar. Parts of the book began as my doctoral dissertation
project in the Harvard University Department of Government, where I
had the pleasure to learn from many friends, advisors, and colleagues. I
was so lucky to have Steve Levitsky as my dissertation committee chair and
intellectual mentor during my years on campus and in the field. Steve saw
potential and merit in the project from its early stages, challenged me to
think about it cleverly and creatively, and made my time at Harvard the
most rigorous and worthwhile learning experience that it could be. I truly
could not have done it without him! Nahomi Ichino, Jorge Dominguez,
and Leonardo Villalón offered very valuable insights and critiques as
members of my dissertation committee, as well as some formative oppor-
tunities to conduct research and contribute to workshops in West Africa.
Many colleagues deserve thanks for enriching conversations and advice
along the way: Leonardo Arriola, Kojo Asante, Zachary Barter, Mindie
Bernard, Jaimie Bleck, Jeff Borns, Colin Brown, Edouard Bustin, Carlos
Costa, El Hadji Samba Amadou Diallo, Claire Duguid, Katie Levine
Einstein, Gerald Early, Dan Eizenga, Alex Fattal, Sheena Chestnut
Greitens, Shelby Grossman, Omar Guèye, Andy Harris, Mai Hassan,
Martha Johnson, Shashank Joshi, Eddy Lazzarin, Adrienne LeBas, Jamie
Loxton, Jordan Long, Timothy Meyer, Lisa Muller, Fallou Ngom, George
Ofosu, Chika Ogawa, Jeffrey Paller, Matthew Page, Tim Parsons, Amanda
Pinkston, Rachel Riedl, Viri Rios, Andy Sobel, Alex Thurston, Rebecca
Vernon, Jason Warner, Martha Wilfahrt, Susanna Wing, and Fadzilah

ix
x ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Yahaya. Two very special people, Itai Sened and the late Victor LeVine,
got me started on political science and African studies in the first place. I
also appreciate the collegiality extended to me by academics and practitio-
ners in Dakar and Saint Louis, especially Mamadou Ciss, El Hadji Omar
Diop, Ismaïla Madior Fall, Babaly Sall, El Hadj Mbodj, Issa Sall, and
Abdoulaye Thiam.
I am grateful for financial support from Harvard University’s
Weatherhead Center for International Affairs and the US Department of
Education’s Title VI Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship,
which together facilitated 15 months of field research in Senegal. Thanks
are also due to the Harvard Committee on General Scholarships, which
facilitated a subsequent research year at Sciences-Po in Paris, France; to
Professor Robert Mattes, who recruited me onto the Senegal research
team for the African Legislatures Project during my fieldwork; and to the
American Political Science Association Africa Workshop on religion and
politics, which provided a venue to explore portions of the arguments in
this book with American and African mentors and peers in Ouagadougou,
Burkina Faso, in summer 2013. A research grant from the West Africa
Research Association in summer 2015 provided the much-needed oppor-
tunity to return to Senegal for three additional months to collect data on
the Senegalese Democratic Party and political developments under Macky
Sall. Led by Professor Ousmane Sène, the Center was an enriching institu-
tion of affiliation both during this fellowship and on earlier legs of
the research.
Wolof language training from the Baobab Center, the Dakar Language
Center, and the Harvard University African Languages Program, from my
beloved instructors Lamine Diallo, Mbouillé Diallo, Assane Diallo, and
Ismaila Massaly, were instrumental in improving the quality of my work
and making my time in Senegal enjoyable. The Diallos, along with
Ibrahima Fall and Mbouillé, became my second family while I lived and
worked in Dakar over the years. Baaba’s tremendous generosity to wel-
come me into the family home every day, including for many a plate of
thiebu jen “Penda Mbaye,” showed me what Senegalese teranga really is.
Profound logistical and substantive pointers from Oumar and Fall, sisterly
guidance from Tabara, and years of Wolof training from Lamine were
transformative, too. I am also grateful for my friendships with others in the
community, including the Ndieguène family, Abdou Karim, and my many
friendly and generous neighbors (among them, Abdoulaye, Mor,
Ousmane, Paa Sy, René, and the Wades), and the mechanics near the
 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xi

National Assembly who became cherished unforeseen friends and Wolof

conversation partners.
My family and friends from the United States have also contributed in
immeasurable ways to my pursuit of a research career and the book writing
process. My parents, Mary Byrd Kelly and Van Kelly, have provided too
many kinds of inspiration and support to enumerate here. My sister, Laura,
gave encouragement and insights that were indispensable at a few critical
moments. And what would I have done without many delightful friends
along the way, especially those who knew me long before we’d have ever
guessed I’d write this.
In the pages that follow, portions of Chaps. 1 and 5 draw from my
article, “Senegal: What Will Turnover Bring?” which appeared in the July
2012 issue of the Journal of Democracy. Parts of Chap. 4, as well as small
elements of Chaps. 1, 2, and 3, were originally published in “Party
Proliferation and Trajectories of Opposition: Comparative Evidence from
Senegal” in the January 2018 issue of Comparative Politics and are
reprinted with the journal’s permission.
Last but certainly not least, I am extremely thankful to the Senegalese
politicians, civil society leaders, journalists, and academics who were will-
ing to be interviewed and consulted for the project. The translations of
French-language quotes into English are my own. All remaining errors in
the manuscript are my own.
Furthermore, the statements and analysis expressed are solely mine in
my individual capacity, not those of any institutions with which I am affili-
ated. They have not been approved by the House of Delegates or the
Board of Governors of the American Bar Association and do not represent
the position or policy of the American Bar Association.
 Praise for Party Proliferation and Political
Contestation in Africa

“Having twice experienced a turnover in power following the defeat of incum-

bents in presidential elections, Senegal has been widely hailed as a model of
democracy in Africa. Yet the country continues to intrigue and puzzle analysts for
its unexpected political dynamics. Prime among these are the striking proliferation
of parties that do not conform to expected logics of party politics, and the failure
to institutionalize the party system. In the consequent debate on the nature of
Senegalese democracy, Kelly offers an explanation for this phenomenon within the
theoretical framework of ‘competitive authoritarianism.’ Building on a wealth of
data gathered from interviews over a year and a half of fieldwork, she offers a fine-­
grained and nuanced empirical examination of the logic of party creation and the
dynamics of party trajectories over a quarter century of democratic experimenta-
tion. This book will be of high interest not only for those attempting to make
sense of the intriguing Senegalese case, but more broadly for those interested in
the surprising patterns of party politics in African democratization.”
—Leonardo A. Villalón, Professor and Dean, University of Florida, USA

“An analytical treasure trove, this book takes our understanding of Senegal’s idio-
syncratic democracy to a whole new level. In it, Kelly skillfully explains the intrica-
cies and inner workings of Senegal’s ever-evolving democratic system, sharing her
expert knowledge with us, the readers. A must-read for political scientists and
Africanists alike, this book shows us why Senegal stands out as an especially useful
and salient case study of political party formation and proliferation.”
—Matthew T. Page, Associate Fellow, Africa Programme, Chatham House, UK

“This important book tells us why and how party proliferation occurs, as politi-
cians create new parties, rather than remaining loyal or collaborating with existing
options. Kelly makes the case that this is costly for democracy and accountability.
When parties function primarily as vehicles for negotiating patronage rather than
long-term electoral mobilization, there are adverse consequences for oppositional
strategies, candidate selection, and elite defection. A critical book for scholarship
and policy on political parties, democracy, and governance in the region.”
—Rachel Beatty Riedl, Director of Program on African Studies and Associate
Professor of Political Science, Northwestern University, USA

xiii
xiv PRAISE FOR PARTY PROLIFERATION AND POLITICAL CONTESTATION IN AFRICA

“In this deeply researched and highly accessible book, Kelly takes up a vital ques-
tion in the study of contemporary Africa – why are there so many political parties?
In the course of her masterful examination of Senegal, a prominent African democ-
racy, Kelly challenges conventional assumptions about how political parties work
and what they want. By showing the patterns underlying Senegal’s hundreds of
parties and its long history of defections and realignments, she sheds crucial light
on broader issues related to how democratic experiments unfold. This excellent
study will have wide relevance for researchers, students, and policymakers working
on Africa – as well as for anyone interested in understanding emerging democra-
cies around the world.”
—Alexander Thurston, Visiting Assistant Professor of Political Science and
Comparative Religion, Miami University of Ohio, USA
 Contents

1 Introduction: Party Proliferation and Its Consequences in

Senegal and Beyond  1

2 Theories of Party-Building: Africa, Competitive

Authoritarianism, and Democracy 29

3 Party Formation and Proliferation on Senegal’s Uneven

Playing Field 59

4 Negotiators or Adversaries? Tracing the Sources of Party

Trajectories 97

5 Defeating Presidents from Within: Regime Insiders and

Turnover in Senegal137

6 Party Loyalty and Defection from the Ruling Party Under

Proliferation173

7 Conclusion and Notes on Comparative and Policy

Perspectives on Party Proliferation in Africa211

Index231

xv
 Abbreviations

AFP Alliance of Forces for Progress / Alliance des Forces du

Progrès
AJ/PADS And-Jëf/African Party for Democracy and Socialism /
And-Jëf/Parti Africain pour la Démocratie et
Socialisme
AND National Alliance for Democracy / Alliance Nationale
pour la Démocratie
ANOCI National Agency for the Organization of the Islamic
Conference / Agence Nationale de l’Organisation de
la Conférence Islamique
APL/Dog bumu gacce Patriotic Action for Liberation / Action Patriotique
pour la Libération
APR Alliance for the Republic / Alliance pour la
République
ASECNA Agency for Aerial Navigation Safety in Africa and
Madagascar / Agence pour la Sécurité de la Navigation
Aérienne en Afrique et à Madagascar
BBY United in Hope / Bennoo Bokk Yakaar
BCEAO Central Bank of the West African States / Banque
Centrale des Etats de l’Afrique de l’Ouest
BCG Centrist Bloc Lions / Bloc Centristes Gaïndé
BDS Senegalese Democratic Bloc / Bloc Démocratique
Sénégalais
BGG Common Vision / Bokk Gis Gis
BP Political Bureau / Bureau Politique
BPS Senegalese Popular Bloc / Bloc Populaire Sénégalais

xvii
xviii ABBREVIATIONS

Cap 21 Coalition Around the President for the 21st Century /

Coalition autour du président pour la 21ème siècle
CD Directing Committee / Comité Directeur
CD-BGG Democratic Convergence/Common Vision /
Convergence Démocratique-Bokk Gis Gis
CDP/Garab gi Convention of Democrats and Patriots/The Remedy /
Convention des Démocrates et Patriotes
CDS Social and Democratic Convention / Convention
Démocratique et Sociale
CEJECAS Circle of Young Socialist Professionals / Cercle des
Jeunes Cadres Socialistes
CNCAS National Agricultural Credit Accounts of Senegal /
Caisse Nationale de Crédit Agricole du Sénégal
CRAES Council for Economic and Social Affairs / Conseil de
la République pour les Affaires Economiques et Sociales
CREI Court of the Repression of Illicit Enrichment / Cour
de la Répression d’Enrichissement Illicite
CSM Senegalese Council of Magistrates / Conseil Supérieur
de la Magistrature
DC Citizens’ Democracy / Démocratie Citoyenne
DIC Division of Criminal Investigation / Division des
Investigations Criminelles
ECOWAS Economic Community of West African States
ENA National Administration School / Ecole Nationale
d’Administration
ENP Effective Number of Parties
FAL Front for Change / Front pour l’Alternance
FDP Front for Democracy and Progress / Front pour la
Démocratie et le Progrès
FP Popular Front / Front Populaire
FSD/BJ Democratic and Social Front / Front Démocratique et
Sociale/Benno Jubel
FSR/Laabal Social Front for Restoration / Front Social pour la
Restauration/Laabal
GC Generation of the Concrete / Génération du Concret
GP The Great Party / Le Grand Parti
HCCT High Council of Local Authorities / Haut Conseil de
Collectivités Territoriales
JPA Youth for Turnover / Jeunesse pour l’Alternance
LD/MPT Democratic League-Movement for the Workers’ Party /
Ligue Démocratique/ Mouvement pour le Parti du
Travail
 ABBREVIATIONS xix

LDR Republican Liberal Democrats / Libéraux Démocrates

Républicains/Yessal
M23 June 23 Movement / Mouvement du 23 juin
MCR Movement for Citizenship and the Republic /
Mouvement pour la Citoyenneté et la République
MDS/NJ Movement for Democracy and Socialism / Mouvement
pour la Démocratie et le Socialisme/Naxx Jarinu
MLPS Liberal Movement for the Senegalese People /
Mouvement Libéral du Peuple Sénégalais
MMD Movement for Multiparty Democracy
MNSM Movement of Servants of the Masses / Mouvement
National de Serviteurs des Masses
MPD/Liggey Movement for Democracy and Work / Mouvement
pour la Démocratie/Liggeey
MPS People’s Movement for Socialism / Mouvement
Populaire Socialiste
MRDS Movement for Social and Democratic Reform /
Mouvement pour la Réforme Démocratique et Sociale
MRS Senegalese Republican Movement / Mouvement
Républicain Sénégalais
MSU Movement for Socialism and Unity / Mouvement pour
le Socialisme et l’Unité
OIF International Organization of Francophonie /
Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie
PAI African Independence Party / Parti Africain de
l’Indépendance
Parena African Renaissance Party / Parti de la Rénaissance
Africaine
PCA Chairman of the Board / Président du Conseil
d’Administration
PCRs Presidents of rural communities / Présidents des
Communuautés Rurales
PDS Senegalese Democratic Party / Parti Démocratique
Sénégalais
PDS/R Senegalese Democratic Party/Renewal / Parti
Démocratique Sénégalais/Rénovation
PEP Party for Hope and Progress / Parti de l’Espoir et du
Progrès
PETROSEN Senegalese Petroleum Company / Société des Pétroles
du Sénégal
PF Patriotic Front
PH Humanist Party / Parti Humaniste
xx ABBREVIATIONS

PIT Party of Independence and Workers / Parti de

l’Indépendance et du Travail
PLP Party of People’s Liberation / Parti pour la Libération
du Peuple
PLS Senegalese Liberal Party / Parti Libéral Sénégalais
PPC Party for Progress and Citizenship / Parti pour le
Progrès et la Citoyenneté
PPS Senegalese Popular Party / Parti Populaire Sénégalais
PR Reform Party / Parti de la Réforme
PRC Party of Renaissance and Citizenship / Parti de la
Renaissance et de la Citoyenneté
PS Socialist Party / Parti Socialiste
PSD/Jant bi Social Democratic Party / Parti Social Démocrate/
Jant bi
PSP Senegalese Party of Progress / Parti Sénégalais du
Progrès
RADDHO African Assembly of Human Rights / Rencontre
Africaine pour la Défense des Droits de l’Homme
RDS Assembly of Senegalese Democrats / Rassemblement
Démocratique Sénégalais
RES-Les Verts Senegalese Ecological Assembly- The Greens /
Rassemblement Ecologique du Sénégal-Les Verts
RND National Democratic Assembly / Rassemblement
Nationale Démocratique
RPM Rally for Mali / Rassemblement pour le Mali
RPS/Jammi Rewmi Senegalese Patriotic Assembly / Union Patriotique
Sénégalais/Jammi Rewmi
RTA/S Assembly of African Workers – Senegal /
Rassemblement des Travailleurs Africains – Sénégal
RUP Assembly for Unity and Peace / Rassemblement pour
l’Unité et la Paix
SDE Senegalese Water Company / Sénégalaise des Eaux
SOMICOA Maritime Industrial Society of the West Coast of Africa /
Société Maritime et Industrielle de la Côte Occidentale de
l’Afrique
SUTELEC Single Union of Electrical Workers / Syndicat Unique
des Travailleurs de l’Electricité
UDF/Mboolo mi Union for Democracy and Federalism / Union pour la
Démocratie et le Fédéralisme/Mboolo mi
UDFPP Democratic Union of Progressive and Patriotic Forces /
Union Démocratique des Forces Progressistes Patriotiques
 Abbreviations  xxi

UFPE Union of Emerging Patriotic Forces / Union des

Forces Patriotiques Emergentes
UJT Union of Young Laborers / Union des Jeunesses
Travaillistes
UNDP National Union for Democracy and Progress
UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural
Organization
UNP National Union for the People/Success / Union
Nationale pour le Peuple/Tekki
UPC United People’s Congress
UPR Union for the Republic / Union pour la République
UPS Senegalese Progressive Union / Union Progressiste
Sénégalais
URD Union for Democratic Renewal / Union pour le
Rénouveau Démocratique
URD/FAL Union for Democratic Renewal/Front for Turnover /
Union pour le Rénouveau Démocratique /Front de
l’Alternance
YAW Path of the People / Yoonu Askan wi
 List of Figures

Fig. 1.1 Patterns of party proliferation by country 2

Fig. 4.1 Factors shaping party trajectories over time 102
Fig. 5.1 Economic conditions at successful and failed alternations 152
Fig. 6.1 Party label changes over time 187

xxiii
 List of Tables

Table 3.1 Parties running on their label in national races, by degree of

contestation65
Table 3.2 Presidential co-optation of new parties, 1998–2003 74
Table 4.1 Frequencies of party trajectories by endowment combinations 114
Table 4.2 Frequencies of trajectories of parties with vote-mobilizing
potential117
Table 4.3 List of parties by levels of each endowment 118
Table 4.4 Case studies 119
Table 5.1 Insiders and outsiders with over 5% of the vote, 1993–2012 142
Table 5.2 Features of incumbent re-election and turnover in Senegal 154
Table 6.1 Trajectories of former PDS ministers in mid-2015 184

xxv
 CHAPTER 1

Introduction: Party Proliferation and Its

Consequences in Senegal and Beyond

Political parties are critical for making democracy work. When parties
aggregate and represent citizens’ broad-based interests, while also groom-
ing capable and appropriate candidates for elected office, they empower
citizens to make clear political choices and hold public officials account-
able for the governance that they provide. Although multiparty politics is
essential for citizens to express preferences about who governs them, too
many political parties can dilute the power of the opposition, render vote
choices opaque, and erode popular confidence in parties as vehicles of
interest articulation and accountability. It is for these reasons that the
recent proliferation of registered political parties—both in Senegal and
elsewhere in Africa—is important for scholars, policymakers, and practitio-
ners to understand.
This book examines the origins and consequences of the proliferation of
political parties, a trend that took hold in sub-Saharan Africa after many
countries transitioned to multiparty politics in the 1990s. When the Berlin
Wall fell, the political and economic support of Western and Soviet powers
declined across the continent, leaving many African leaders more vulnera-
ble to domestic popular pressures for regime change. In protests from

The statements and analysis expressed are solely those of the author and have not
been approved by the House of Delegates or the Board of Governors of the
American Bar Association and do not represent the position or policy of the
American Bar Association.

© The Author(s) 2020 1

C. L. Kelly, Party Proliferation and Political Contestation in Africa,
Contemporary African Political Economy,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-19617-2_1
2 C. L. KELLY

Benin and Mali to Zambia and Gabon, citizens expressed the demand for
more freedoms, liberties, and opportunities than they had enjoyed under
the military, personalist, and single-party authoritarian regimes that had
predominated after independence in the 1960s. In 1989, all but five African
regimes were authoritarian, but by 1995, 38 countries had reformed their
constitutions to allow for multiparty politics and competitive elections
(Bratton and Van de Walle 1997: 7). Since the start of these “democratic
experiments,” the number of registered political parties has multiplied—
and in some cases, drastically accelerated—in a diverse set of countries with
different legacies of conflict, sources of wealth, histories of military and
civilian rule, and salience of identity-based political cleavages. By 2010,
after 20 or more years of multiparty competition, Cameroon had over 250
parties, Madagascar and Senegal over 150, Burkina Faso, Benin, and Mali
over 100, and Mozambique, Malawi, and Kenya approximately 50. By
mid-2018, these numbers had climbed even higher, especially in the fran-
cophone African cases (Fig. 1.1).1

Fig. 1.1 Patterns of party proliferation by country

 1 INTRODUCTION: PARTY PROLIFERATION AND ITS CONSEQUENCES… 3

Party proliferation has persisted long after the founding presidential

and legislative elections of each country’s multiparty transition. It is
around these transitional elections that democracy and governance experts
would expect to see a temporary spike in party formation in response to
newfound political opportunities. They would also expect party leaders
with unsuccessful electoral performance in the founding elections to learn
from their mistakes. In other words, although proliferation is expected
during transitions to multipartism, the parties performing poorly are then
expected to disappear or fuse with other, more successful parties in subse-
quent rounds of political contestation.
Senegal is a least-likely crucial case of party proliferation because its transi-
tion from post-independence authoritarianism to multiparty politics occurred
earlier than in most other African countries.2 While most of these countries
were authoritarian regimes from independence in the 1960s to the end of the
Cold War, Senegal held its first post-independence multiparty presidential
elections in 1978, over a decade earlier than its counterparts that transitioned
in the early 1990s. Until 1974, President Leopold Sédar Senghor oversaw
a de facto single-party authoritarian regime and headed the ruling Socialist
Party (PS). However, in that year, Abdoulaye Wade—an aspiring politician
who was then a lawyer and university p ­rofessor—convinced Senghor to
allow him to create the Senegalese Democratic Party (PDS). Subsequently,
in 1976, Senghor oversaw the establishment of three ideologically differen-
tiated parties: the PS, which was declared the country’s social democratic
party; the PDS, labeled as Senegal’s liberal democratic party; and the African
Independence Party (PAI), designated as Marxist. His successor, Abdou
Diouf, initiated legislative changes to allow for an unlimited number of par-
ties in 1981. Based on current theories of party behavior after multiparty
transitions, Senegal’s longer experience with multiparty politics makes it the
place where one might least expect party proliferation to persist and most
expect the party system to have consolidated. Yet, by mid-2011, Senegal had
174 registered political parties, a number that had tripled between 2000 and
2010 alone; by mid-­2018, there were nearly 300.
In Senegal and many other African countries, conventionally cited
­factors like ideological preferences, formal electoral rules, and social cleav-
ages are not highly correlated with the number of registered parties.
Consequently, they cannot fully account for the dynamics of party prolif-
eration (LeBas 2011; Manning 2005; Van de Walle and Butler 1999).
Why, then, do so many politicians continue to found parties in Senegal,
and why do others choose not to create them? What are the implications
of proliferation for party trajectories, presidential turnover, and party
­loyalty, which each shapes the nature and quality of political contestation?
4 C. L. KELLY

More specifically, why do so many politicians create parties in Senegal?

What are the determinants of a consistent opposition party trajectory, as
opposed to one of collaboration with incumbents? What explains why ex-­
regime insiders, rather than regime outsiders, induced presidential turn-
overs in 2000 and 2012? And how do politicians conceptualize and
evaluate their choices to defect or remain loyal to particular parties? This
book seeks to answer these core questions in the chapters that follow.
These questions are important not only because of their implications
for democratization and governance but also because of Senegalese and
other African citizens’ interest in answering them. Generally, political sci-
ence research in the West neglects issues focused on a country’s total num-
ber of registered parties. It focuses almost exclusively on the study of
parties that run candidates for office or control parliamentary seats. Yet
when analysts restrict their view to such parties in countries like Senegal,
they ignore other types of parties that provide further insight into the
social and political dynamics that shape governance and contestation; this
creates an incomplete, if not misleading picture of how patronage distri-
bution, political bargaining, and engagement with the state actually work.
Quite contrastingly, the proliferation of registered parties has not escaped
the attention of African academics, statespeople, and journalists. They
observe with worry and disillusionment that proliferation is accompanied
by chronic party switching, social fragmentation, fragile opposition parties
and coalitions, and low public trust in political parties and their leaders.
As early as 2001, legislators from African countries in the International
Organization of Francophonie (Organisation Internationale de la
Francophonie, OIF) expressed concern about the consequences of party
proliferation for political development, given the parochial nature of many
parties that are formed (Abdrahman 2001). Burkinabè analysts have con-
cluded that “the efflorescence of political parties gives voters and citizens
the impression that [party] leaders are motivated by lowly material inter-
ests, which reduces the collective credibility of the opposition” (CGD-­
IGD 2009: 17). Cameroonian experts lament the “mushrooming of
non-viable political parties” and the “proliferation of ghost parties” that
subvert democratization and dilute the “real opposition” (Tandé 2009:
127; Nyamnjoh 2005: 121–122). Some Malian observers note the corre-
lation between proliferation and the prevalence of ephemeral, oversized
political coalitions united only by the desire for government posts (Camara
2012: 49), while others claim that the “uncontrolled” creation of parties
with low mobilizing capacity reduces the popular legitimacy of political
parties as a whole (Sidibé 2015).
 1 INTRODUCTION: PARTY PROLIFERATION AND ITS CONSEQUENCES… 5

Similarly, within Senegal, the historian Sémou Pathé Guèye (2003)

contends that the proliferation of “parties that have nothing but a name”
contributes to the “degradation of pluralist democracy in the eyes of peo-
ple who don’t feel [parties to be] useful in their everyday life” (181–182).
Moustapha Niasse, the current President of Senegal’s National Assembly,
remarks that “the Senegalese have created the concept of the ‘telephone
booth party,’ a party composed of the wife, the husband, the two children,
the cook, and the chauffeur.”3 These are not the “real political parties”
needed for coalitions to have “stability, permanence, and political clout”
(Sud Quotidien 2015). The political scientist, El Hadji Omar Diop (2011),
documents such patterns and their erosion of the “Senegalese democratic
myth.” There is also vibrant press coverage of proliferation, with some
pieces defending each citizen’s legal prerogative to form a party, but others
accusing the parties that result from proliferation of pursuing opportunis-
tic self-promotion or of blurring the political landscape and obscuring the
ease with which citizens can assess their voting and policymaking choices.
Taking these apprehensions seriously, the book examines party prolif-
eration, party trajectories, presidential turnovers, and patterns of party
loyalty and defection in contemporary Senegal, which has long been con-
sidered a bastion of peaceful, multiparty electoral competition in sub-­
Saharan Africa. The book first seeks to describe the proliferation of
registered parties and understand its sources. Building on these insights, it
then analyzes three notable developments in Senegalese politics in the
context of party proliferation: the paucity of parties that consistently
oppose any given incumbent; the tendency for ex-regime insiders instead
of regime outsiders to function as the president’s foremost electoral com-
petitors; and the linkage between party creation and elite defection from
existing parties. The results are relevant for scholars, policymakers, and
practitioners who are engaged with democracy, rule of law, and gover-
nance issues, particularly those that demand a deep understanding of the
meanings of party formation, the functions that parties actually serve, and
the implications of those realities for the nature of opposition and political
contestation.
In short, the research concludes that many Senegalese parties are
formed for negotiating access to the state rather than for contesting and
winning elections. Because a significant subset of parties is formed
­primarily for negotiating patronage, parties rarely become the consistent,
long-­term opposition organizations purported to bolster democracy and
accountability. These realities contrast to some extent with canonical
accounts of political parties, which depict them as teams of ambitious
6 C. L. KELLY

­ oliticians who pool resources and coordinate competition for elected

p
office and who remain outside of government to critique it if they do not
win (Aldrich 1995; Downs 1957; Duverger 1963). In research on consoli-
dated democracies, parties are critical components of good governance
because they aggregate and represent citizens’ broad-based interests and
thereby empower citizens to hold public officials accountable (Key 1964;
Lipset 2000; Schattschneider 1942). However, parties are often created
for different, non-electoral reasons in competitive authoritarian regimes
and thus do not always oppose incumbents in the ways that classic theo-
ries predict.
As in Senegal, most places with party proliferation began experiencing
it under competitive authoritarian regimes, in which presidents and politi-
cians made decisions about party-building that reflected neither fully dem-
ocratic nor fully authoritarian constraints on their political behavior. This
regime type emerged after the Cold War ended, when “the disappearance
of competing Western security interests…brought a sharp increase in
external democratizing pressure” and made African leaders more vulner-
able to popular protests for political reform (Levitsky and Way 2010b:
236).4 On the uneven playing field, a hallmark of competitive authoritari-
anism, presidents enjoy a degree of incumbency advantage that surpasses
what is typical in democracies. With systematic and deep advantages rela-
tive to the opposition in “access to state institutions, resources, and the
media,” presidents can weaken their political competition by depriving
opponents of state resources, controlling the media to hinder opposition
coverage and access, and overseeing the politicized application of the law
(Levitsky and Way 2010a, b: 9–12). This not only empowers the president
to create incentives for proliferation if he so chooses; it also renders sur-
vival in the opposition so financially difficult that many politicians are
constrained—or even motivated—to form parties that are primarily
­
patronage-oriented rather than primarily election-oriented. Party creation
thereby becomes no longer just a tool for the few, lucky politicians with
the capacity to attract the financial and human capital necessary to win
elections; it also serves as an outlet for less prosperous politicians who lack
these resources to lobby for access to the state.
The purposes of political parties in turn shape various aspects of politi-
cal contestation, including party trajectories into the ruling coalition or
the opposition, presidential turnover, and politicians’ decisions about
party loyalty. When parties are formed for negotiating access to the state
rather than for winning elections, they rarely become the consistent,
 1 INTRODUCTION: PARTY PROLIFERATION AND ITS CONSEQUENCES… 7

long-­term opposition parties that bolster democracy. Party leaders are

reliant on personal resources for party-building on the uneven playing
field; few have the resources to become serious enough competitors with
the president to judge it worthwhile to bear the costs of regularly running
against him in the hope of someday defeating him. Given the paucity of
opposition parties that consistently remain outside of government under
any given president, ex-regime insiders—defined as politicians who have
accessed state resources through ministerial appointments—have ampli-
fied advantages as opposition candidates for the presidency, especially if
they have used their prior access to the state to build the clout and capital
needed to compete seriously on the uneven playing field. The ease with
which certain ex-insiders have formed their own organizations and won
elected posts reinforces temptations for elites to defect from existing par-
ties and break out on their own.
The remainder of the introduction presents the book’s contributions to
knowledge about party-building and democratization in greater depth
(Sect. 1.1), situates Senegal as a case of competitive authoritarian party-­
building (Sect. 1.2), and provides an overview of the study’s methodology
(Sect. 1.3) and research design (Sect. 1.4).

1.1   What the Book Argues

Focused on the end of the Abdou Diouf presidency (1992–2000) and the
Abdoulaye Wade presidency (2000–2012), the book argues that the pro-
liferation of primarily patronage-oriented parties and the paucity of consis-
tent opposition parties are patterns that Diouf and Wade used the uneven
playing field to sustain, if not amplify, during competitive authoritarian
rule. Under Macky Sall, party proliferation and inconsistent opposition
have endured, first under several years of democratizing reforms and now
during a period of relative retrenchment.5 The book’s analysis covers poli-
ticians and parties from all three presidencies, but concentrates on the
Wade era, when competitive authoritarianism was arguably at its height.
Beyond its usefulness for understanding political dynamics within
Senegal, the influence of competitive authoritarianism on party-building is
worth analyzing due to the sheer number of African countries that have
fallen into that regime category since the start of post-Cold War “demo-
cratic experiments.” Of the 47 countries in Bratton & Van de Walle’s
study, 37 were not full-fledged democracies by the end of 2012.6 Eighteen
African countries were in Freedom House’s “partly free” category, which
8 C. L. KELLY

signals the presence of many aspects of the uneven playing field that char-
acterizes competitive authoritarian rule. In addition, 14 of the 35 coun-
tries that were deemed by Levitsky & Way as competitive authoritarian by
1995 were African.
By analyzing specific aspects of the Senegalese party system during a
prolonged period of competitive authoritarianism, the forthcoming chap-
ters are designed to propose explanations for party formation, defection,
trajectories, and turnover in and of themselves, as well as to explore how
competitive authoritarianism has contributed to or reified those patterns.
Each set of conclusions should thus be considered as hypothesis-­
generating, helping to further theorize prominent patterns in contempo-
rary Senegalese party politics that experts have also observed but not yet
explained in several other African countries.

Party Creation Can Serve Non-electoral Purposes

The book first documents the prominence of parties with leaders who are
neither election-oriented nor promoters of policies that advance particular
ideologies or special interests. Although Senegal has various parties that
contest elections and attempt to forge stable constituencies among voters,
party creation is more consistently an expedient way to access state
resources than a means of regular electoral contestation. Parties are often
the expression of the ambition of a single politician, whose organization
consists of the politician’s family, friends, and neighbors who are socially
and materially invested in his success. The founder and his followers tend
to seek advancement through the politician’s ability to negotiate access to
the state, whether through a plum job, material benefits from the ruling
entourage, or greater proximity to the ruling party’s network of cadres
able to solve personal problems.
As previously mentioned, the proliferation of such parties contrasts
with the fundamentally election-oriented organizations depicted in the
classic literature on party development. Downs (1957) holds that parties
originate out of ambitious politicians’ need to pool their resources and
form teams to facilitate winning elected office; politicians create parties in
order to better organize election campaigns, develop linkages to constitu-
ents to increase the likelihood of re-election, and aggregate preferences to
propose legislation in a timely manner (Aldrich 1995). Senegal, in con-
trast, has a significant subset of parties that are not formed by leaders pri-
marily for regular electoral competition. Perhaps the most telling evidence
Another random document with
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"What did she do?"
"Stop asking questions and I'll tell you!" Erna exclaimed in
exasperation. "First of all, I had perfectly wonderful holidays. I stayed
most of the time with a nurse from the hospital. My mother and father
are getting a divorce and I'm glad." And she stared at Flip and Jackie
defiantly.
"Oh, Erna," Jackie cried.
"Well, mutti's not a bit like your mother," Erna said, "and she's never
liked me. But my father was just wonderful and Marianne, she's the
nurse, was awfully nice, too, and took me to the movies when she
was off duty. And she told me my father was a great surgeon and a
wonderful man and I saw an operation and I didn't faint or anything
and my father told me he was very happy I was going to be a doctor
and he'd help me all he could. And he talked to me lots and lots and
said he was sorry he never had time to write me or anything but he
loved me just the same and he'd try to write me more. And then he
told me he and mutti disagreed about many things and they
disagreed about the world and Germany and people and things in
general. They'd disagreed about the war and the Nazis only father
couldn't say anything because of my brothers and mutti and me and
everything. He said all the injured and wounded people needed to be
taken care of and it wasn't their fault, mostly, not the fault of—what
did he call them? the—the little people. So he felt all right taking care
of them and he was glad I was here at school because he thought it
was the best place in the world for me right now. And it was really
wonderful, kids, because he'd always been so kind of stern and
everything and I'd never really known him before or felt that I had a
father the way you two do, and now I have, even if mutti still doesn't
love me."
Flip and Jackie listened, neither of them looking at the other or at
Erna because there was too much emotion in the room and they
both felt full of too much pity for Erna even while she was telling
them how happy she was. But they caught the sorrow in her voice
when she spoke of her mother, and Flip felt that having your mother
not love you would be the bitterest way of all to lose her.
"Well, I expect you're wondering what all this has to do with Percy,"
Erna continued, her voice suddenly brisk. "My father's brother, my
uncle Guenther, is a doctor, too, and he used to know Percy's sister,
the singer, and he knew about this school and that's how I happened
to come here. He was a Nazi for a while and then he wanted to stop
being one and they put him in a prison but they needed surgeons
and so they let him out and he had to pretend he was a Nazi but all
the time he was trying to work against them. Really he was. I know
lots of them say that now because it's—what's the word father used
—expedient—but Uncle Guenther really did try, and then he just took
care of the hurt people like my father did because hurt people should
be taken care of no matter who they are."
"It's all right," Jackie said. "We believe you. Do go on about Percy."
"Well, Percy's sister sang in Berlin for the Americans and Uncle
Guenther came to see her and they got to talking about old times
and everything and then they talked about the war and how it was
awful that friends should be enemies and they each said they'd
wanted to be on—on the side of life and not on the side of death.
And Percy's sister said she hadn't been able to do anything but sing.
Madame and her husband had been living in Paris where he taught
history at the Sorbonne and Percy taught art at one of the Lycées.
They were both wonderful skiers and they left and came to
Switzerland, to the border between Switzerland and Germany, and
they became guides who helped people escape into Switzerland.
Their daughter had died of pneumonia just at the beginning of the
war and it made Percy very serious. Uncle Guenther said that before
that she had been very gay and used to love to go to parties and
things. Anyhow, they became these guides, I mean Madame and her
husband did, and once when they were bringing a party over the
border they were discovered and Percy's husband was shot just
before they got into Switzerland."
Tender-hearted Jackie had tears in her eyes and Flip's face was
pale.
"Well," Erna said, "I just thought you'd want to know and you were
the only two people in school I could tell it to."
"Oh, Erna!" Jackie cried. "Oh, Erna! How awful! And it's just like an
American movie, Percy helping people to escape and everything."
"Golly, it's going to be awful without her the rest of the year," Erna
said. "I'm glad this Miss Redford seems nice."
"Thank you for telling me, too, Erna." Flip slid down from her desk as
the breakfast gong began to ring.
"Oh, well, I knew you were crazy about Percy. Come on, kids, time
for food." And Erna hurried them out of the classroom.
9
The days really began to go by as Flip had never thought days at
school could go. She remembered in the movies how the passage of
time was often shown by the pages of a calendar being turned in
rapid succession, and it seemed now that the days at school were
being flipped by in just such a way. She would get up in the cold dark
of early morning, dress, shivering, make her bed, and rush out to
practice skiing.
"Where do you go every morning, Flip?" her roommates asked her.
"It's a secret," she finally had to tell them, "but I'll tell you as soon as I
possibly can."
"What kind of a secret?"
"Well, I think it's going to be a nice secret," Flip said.
She spent Sundays skiing with Paul and usually stayed at the gate
house for the evening meal.
"Flip, have you ever seen the others ski?" Paul asked her.
"No. Sometimes on walks we pass the beginners and you can see
them from the windows of the gym. But the others usually take the
train up to San Loup and I haven't seen them."
"Then you don't really know what you're up against?"
"No."
"So you can't really tell how you'll stand the day of the ski meet."
"No."
"Well—" Paul threw out his arms and pushed back his chair. "There's
no use worrying about it. Aunt Colette said you should definitely sign
up with the intermediates and she certainly ought to know."
There was a letter one day from her father. "I'm sketching at the
hostel where your Madame Perceval is teaching," he wrote. "She's
doing amazing work with the children here and they all adore her.
She speaks affectionately of you and sends you her regards."
And Paul told her, "My father had a letter from Aunt Colette. She's
met your father."
One Sunday while they were at the table Flip said to Paul, "Why
don't you ski back down to school with me if your father will let us,
and then I could sort of show you around and he could come and get
you."
"No," Paul said.
"Why not?"
"I just don't want to."
"Why don't you go, Paul?" Georges Laurens put in. "It would do you
good."
"Please, Paul," Flip begged. "School's been lots of fun since
Christmas."
"You've certainly changed," Paul said, looking down at his plate.
"Yes, I have. And it's lots nicer. I'm not the most popular girl in school
or anything but they don't hate me any more, and Erna and Jackie
and Solvei and Maggie are nice to me and everybody likes it
because I draw pictures of them. Anyhow, you don't have to come in
or say a word to anybody if you don't want to, you can go on
avoiding institutions. But I want to ski back to school and I can't
unless you go with me because I'm not allowed to be out alone."
"There you are," Paul said. "Rules again."
"Honestly!" Flip cried, and for the first time in speaking to Paul her
voice held anger. "Prisons and concentration camps and things
aren't the only place where you have rules! You have to have rules!
Look at international law."
"You look at it," Paul said.
Flip was getting really furious. "All right, I will! And I'll see what
happens when nations go against it! You have wars and then you
have bombs and concentration camps and people being killed and
everything horrible. You have to have some rules! Hospitals have
rules and if you're going to be a doctor you'll be working in hospitals.
It's just plain common sense to accept some rules! It's just plain
courtesy! I never thought I'd see you being stupid, Paul Laurens!
And if you're going to tell me you're afraid of a few girls I won't
believe you."
Paul stood up, knocking over his chair, and walked out of the room.
Flip sat down and she was trembling. She looked across the table at
Georges Laurens, her eyes wide with dismay. "I've upset him. That
was awful of me. I'm sorry."
"It's all right," Georges Laurens said. "Losing your temper that way
was the best thing you could have done. Finish your tart."
Flip picked up her fork and began eating again but now the tart that
had looked so delectable when Thérèse put it in front of her was only
something to be forced down. She had just swallowed the last bite
when Paul came back and stood in the doorway.
"All right," he almost shouted at Flip. "Get your skis. Please come for
me in an hour, papa."
"An hour it shall be," Georges Laurens said.
It took them less than half an hour to ski back to the school. Flip took
Paul into the ski room while she put her skis in the rack. "I didn't
mean to make you angry," she said. "I'm sorry, Paul. Please forgive
me."
Paul shook his head. "No. You were quite right. Everything you said.
I don't know what's the matter with me."
"Would you—" Flip asked tentatively, "would you mind if I brought
Jackie and Erna down for just a minute? They're dying to meet you
and it's—it's strictly against the rules."
Paul laughed. "All right. Go ahead."
Flip went tearing along the corridor and up the stairs. She slowed
down when she came to the lounge because Fräulein Hauser was
on duty, and walked as quickly as possible to the Common Room.
Luckily Jackie and Erna were off in a corner together, reading a letter
from Jackie's mother.
"Get permission from Hauser to go to the libe and meet me in the
room," she whispered. Then she hurried away and ran up the stairs,
pulling off ski jacket and sweater on the way. Jackie and Erna came
in as she was throwing on her uniform.
"What's up?"
"Come on down to the ski room with me," Flip panted.
"Are you crazy?" Erna asked. "Hauser won't give us permission. The
basement at this time of night is strengt verboten."
"Don't be a nut," Flip said, "Paul's down there. He came back with
me. We can slip down the back stairs. Oh, come on, kids, do hurry."
Both Erna's and Jackie's faces lit up when Flip mentioned Paul and
they followed her excitedly down the back stairs. For a moment
when they got to the ski room Flip thought that Paul had run out on
her, but no; he turned to meet them with a grin.
"Hello," Paul said, pulling off his cap and bowing.
"Paul, this is Erna and Jackie," Flip said quickly. "Kids, this is Paul
Laurens, Madame's nephew."
They all said hello and sat down on the benches.
Flip began to talk quickly. "Erna and Jackie are my roommates, Paul.
You remember. I told you about them. I would have brought Gloria—
you know, she's our other roommate—but she can't ever keep a
secret. If you want anything spread all over school you just take
Gloria aside and tell it to her as a dead secret and you know
everybody'll know about it in a couple of hours. She's lots of fun,
though. Oh, and you know what we did to her!"
"What?" Paul asked, rather taken aback by this jabbering Flip.
"The ears," Flip said to Erna and Jackie, and the three of them went
off into gales of laughter. "You tell him, Jackie," Flip said.
"Well, Gloria never used to wash her ears," Jackie began, "so we
wrote her a letter pretending it came from Signorina del Rossi—she's
the teacher on our corridor. We didn't dare make it from the matron
because she'd have given us Deportment marks but Signorina's a
good sport. Anyhow, Flip wrote the letter, and she imitated
Signorina's handwriting, and it said that Gloria was to go to Signorina
every morning right after breakfast for ear inspection. Black and
Midnight—she's the matron and sleeps on our corridor, too—
inspects our fingernails every morning but she doesn't look at our
ears. So Gloria got this letter and that evening we heard her washing
and washing in her cubicle and the next morning we hid behind the
door to the back stairs because that's opposite Signorina's room,
and Gloria came and knocked on Signorina's door and we heard her
tell Signorina she'd come for ear inspection. And Signorina was just
wonderful. She never let on that she didn't know what it was all
about but looked at Gloria's ears and told her they were very nice
and as long as she kept them that way she needn't come back."
Paul laughed obligingly, then said, "it's time for me to meet my father
now, but I'll see you all at the ski meet. It's pretty soon now, isn't it?"
Erna hugged herself in anticipation and said, "Fräulein Hauser told
us at dinner that it was definitely going to be next Saturday. The lists
go up on Friday, and it's tremendously exciting, signing up for
things."
Paul gave Flip a nudge. "I suppose you'll all be signing up for things."
"All except Flip," Erna said, and Paul gave Flip another nudge.
They said good-bye at the foot of the back stairs. Paul bowed
gallantly and told Erna and Jackie how much he'd enjoyed meeting
them, and then he and Flip went out to meet Monsieur Laurens.
"Just a week more, Flip," Paul whispered.
"I know," Flip whispered back, and shivered.
"Don't be scared," Paul told her. "You'll be fine. But Flip, how time
has crept up on us!"
"Like the wolf at the door." Flip tried to laugh; then, her voice
suddenly pleading, the voice of a very small, frightened girl, she
begged, "You'll be there, Paul?"
"I promise," Paul said. "Don't worry, Flip. I'll be there."
10
Friday morning after breakfast the lists for the ski meet were on the
board. Flip had rushed through breakfast as usual in order to get a
last morning's work-out on her skis, so she was the first to sign up.
She took the pencil attached to the board by a long chain and looked
at the intermediate events. There was Form, which she signed up
for; the short race, which she also signed for, though sprinting was
not her strong point; and the long race, for which she had higher
hopes. Then there was intermediate jumping, but she didn't sign for
that. Madame Perceval had told her that she was good enough to
jump without worry if ever there were a necessity or emergency, but
the slight stiffness and weakness in her knee held her back more on
the jumping than in anything else. So there was her name at the top
of the intermediate lists, Philippa Hunter, 97, in careful, decisive
lettering. She looked at her name and her stomach seemed to flop
over inside of her.
But there isn't time to be scared, she thought. I'd better go out and
ski.
When she came back in to get the mail the lists were pretty well filled
up. Almost everybody in Flip's class was an intermediate. A few
were in the beginners group and Solvei was a senior, but almost all
the girls she knew best had signed under her name and none of
them had failed to notice Philippa Hunter, 97, at the top of the list.
"But Flip, you don't ski!"
"Pill, did you know those lists were for the ski meet?"
"Flip, you didn't mean to sign up for the ski meet, did you?"
"Are you crazy, Philippa Hunter?"
She looked at their incredulous faces and suddenly she began to
wonder if she really could ski. "Yes, I did mean to sign up," she told
them.
"But Flip, you can't ski!"
"Fräulein Hauser said you couldn't learn!"
"She said she couldn't teach you!"
"Pill, you must have gone mad!"
"I'm not mad," Flip said, standing with her back against the bulletin
board while the girls crowded around her. "I'm not mad. I did mean to
sign." She tried to move away but they pushed her back against the
board.
Fräulein Hauser came over and said, "Girls!" Then she looked at Flip
and said, "Philippa Hunter, I want to speak to you."
The girls moved away and Flip followed Fräulein Hauser up the
stairs. Now that Madame Perceval was no longer at the school
Fräulein Hauser had taken her place as second to Mlle. Dragonet
and most popular of the teachers. But Flip still stung from the gym
teacher's scorn and when she drew Fräulein Hauser's table at meals
she did not regard it as a piece of good fortune.
Now Fräulein Hauser led her to the deserted class room and said,
"What did you mean by signing up for three events in the ski meet?"
Flip looked stubbornly into Fräulein Hauser's determined, sun-
tanned face. "I want to ski in them."
"Don't be ridiculous." Fräulein Hauser's voice was sharp and
annoyance robbed her features of their usually pleasant expression.
"You know you can't ski well enough to enter even the beginner's
events, much less the intermediate."
"I've been practicing every morning after breakfast for an hour."
"I assure you, Philippa, that you are not a skier. You simply are not
good at sports because of your bad knee and you might as well face
it. You had better stick to your painting. I thought you were settling
down nicely and I must say I don't understand this wild idea of yours
in entering the ski meet. Now be a sensible girl and go downstairs
and take your name off."
Now I shall have to explain, Flip thought, and started, "No, please,
Fräulein Hauser, you see I really do want to enter the ski meet
because—"
But Fräulein Hauser did not give her a chance to finish. "I'm sorry,
Philippa. I haven't time to waste on this nonsense. Suppose you let
me be the judge of whether or not you can ski well enough to enter
the meet. Now go downstairs and cross your name off the list or I
shall."
"But please, Fräulein Hauser—" Flip started.
Fräulein Hauser turned away without listening. "I'm sorry, Philippa,"
she said.
"But Fräulein Hauser, I can ski!" Flip cried after her. But the gym
teacher was already out of the room and didn't hear.
Flip waited long enough to give Fräulein Hauser time to get to the
faculty room. Then she walked swiftly down the corridor before she
had time to lose her nerve, and knocked on the door to Mlle.
Dragonet's sitting room.
When Mlle. Dragonet's voice called out "Come in," she didn't know
whether she was filled with relief or regret. She opened the door and
slipped inside, shut it, and stood with her back to it as she had stood
against the bulletin board downstairs.
Mlle. Dragonet was drinking coffee and going over some papers at a
table in front of the fire; she looked up and said kindly, "Well,
Philippa, what can I do for you?"
"Please, Mlle. Dragonet," Flip said desperately, "isn't it entirely up to
the girls whether or not we enter the ski meet and what we sign up
for? I mean, Erna told me you didn't have to be in it if you didn't want
to, and if you did, you could sign up for anything and it was entirely
your own responsibility what you thought you were good enough for."
"Yes. That's right." Mlle. Dragonet nodded and poured herself some
more coffee out of a silver coffee pot.
"Well, Fräulein Hauser says I must take my name off the lists."
"Why does she say that?" Mlle. Dragonet dropped a saccharine
tablet into her coffee and poured some hot milk into it as though it
were the one thing in the world she was thinking of at the moment.
"Well, when we first started skiing she said I couldn't learn to ski and
she couldn't teach me and I had to give it up. Then Madame
Perceval found out my skis were too long and there was a pair some
girl had left that fitted me and Madame and Paul have been teaching
me to ski. I've practiced every morning after breakfast for an hour
and during the Christmas hols we skied all the time and went on
overnight skiing trips and things and Madame said I should enter the
ski meet as an intermediate. But now Fräulein Hauser says I have to
take my name off the list because she doesn't know I can ski."
"Why didn't you explain to Fräulein Hauser?" Mlle. Dragonet asked.
"I tried to, but she wouldn't listen. I don't think she knew I had
anything to explain. And Madame Perceval said I shouldn't say
anything about her helping me. She said I should say it was just
Paul, and I don't think that would have convinced Fräulein Hauser,
no matter how good a skier Paul is, because I was so awful before.
That's why I had to come to you, Mademoiselle."
Mlle. Dragonet picked up her pencil and twirled it. "So you've been
keeping your skiing a secret?"
"Yes, Mlle. Dragonet."
"Whose idea was this?"
"Paul's. He thought it would be so much fun to surprise everybody."
"Was he coming to the ski meet?"
"Yes, Mademoiselle."
"I can see," Mlle. Dragonet said, "how Paul would think it was fun to
surprise everybody, and how you would think it was fun, too. But
don't you think it's a little hard on Fräulein Hauser?" Her brown eyes
looked mildly at Flip.
Flip countered with another question. "Don't you think Fräulein
Hauser should have noticed that my skis were too long? I know she
has so many beginners she can't pay too much attention to any one
person, and I've always been bad at sports, but as soon as I got skis
that were the right length for me I was better. I wasn't good but at
least it was possible for me to learn."
"And you think you have learned?"
"Yes, Mademoiselle. And it was Madame Perceval who said I should
enter as an intermediate. I haven't seen the others ski so I wouldn't
have known in what group I belonged."
"So Madame Perceval taught you, did she?" Mlle. Dragonet asked.
She put her pencil down and said, "Very well, Philippa. I'll speak to
Fräulein Hauser and explain the situation. It's almost time for Call
Over now. You'd better get down stairs."
"Thank you, Mlle. Dragonet. Thank you ever so much. And you won't
say anything about its being Madame Perceval who found me the
skis and helped me, please? Because she said it would be better not
to, only I didn't think she'd mind if I told you under these—these—
imperative circumstances."
Mlle. Dragonet smiled. "I won't say anything about her part in it. I
promise."
"I'm sorry to have bothered you," Flip said. "I didn't want to but I
didn't know what else to do. I was desperate."
"It's what I'm here for, Philippa," Mlle. Dragonet said.
As Flip left Mlle. Dragonet's sitting room and started down stairs she
wondered how she could ever live through the hours until the ski
meet. The two months since the Christmas holidays had flown by
like a swift bird but the brief time until the next day stretched out
ahead of her like an eternity.
Erna met her when she got downstairs. "You didn't get your mail,
Flip. I took it for you."
"Oh, thanks ever so much," Flip said. "Oh, wonderful! It's a letter
from father. Thanks lots, Erna."
There was just time to read the letter before Call Over if she hurried,
and she was glad to escape the questions and exclamations of the
girls who came clustering about her again, probing her about the ski
meet, telling her that Fräulein Hauser had already crossed her name
off the lists.
She ran down the corridor to the bathroom, locked herself in, and
opened her father's letter.—I'm so glad it came today, she thought.—
I need it to give me courage for tomorrow.
11
"My darling champion skier," the letter began. "How proud I am of
the way you've worked at your skiing and I hope your triumph at the
ski meet will be everything you and Paul could hope for. Now please
don't be disappointed, darling—as a matter of fact maybe you'll be
relieved—but I don't think I'll be able to make it for the ski meet.
You'll probably do much better if you're not worrying about my being
there and the spring holidays will be here before we know it."
She sat staring at the closed white bathroom door in front of her, with
the paint chipped off in places. She was filled with completely
disproportionate disappointment. When she heard someone
pounding on the door and calling, "Flip! Flip!" she could not keep the
unwelcome tears from her eyes.
"Flip! Flip!"
She forced the tears back and opened the door and Erna and Jackie
were anxiously waiting for her.
"Flip!" Erna cried. "You missed Call Over and Hauser's simply furious
and she wants to see you right away."
"She says you're sulking because she took your name off the ski
lists. Oh, Flip, what do you want to be in the ski meet for anyhow
when you can't ski!"
"I can ski," Flip said. "And I'm not sulking because of the ski meet.
Father said he could come and now he can't." The tears began to
trickle down her cheeks. "I haven't seen him since school began,"
she managed to whisper.
Erna patted her clumsily on the shoulder. "That's awful, Flip. That's
an awful shame."
"Maybe he'll be able to come at the last minute," Jackie said. "Don't
cry, Flip."
The door opened again and Fräulein Hauser, looking extremely
annoyed, stood in the doorway.
"Really, Philippa Hunter!" she exclaimed. "I have seldom seen such
a display of bad sportsmanship."
Flip drew herself up and suddenly she looked very tall and strong as
she stood facing the gym teacher. "Fräulein Hauser," she said. "I did
not skip Call Over because you took my name off the ski lists. I didn't
even know you'd taken it off. I am crying because I expected to see
my father and now I'm not going to."
Fräulein Hauser looked at the tear blurred face and the crumpled
letter and at Erna and Jackie nodding in corroboration of Flip's words
and said, more gently, "I'm sorry I misunderstood you, Philippa." And
she smiled. "But you can hardly blame me."
"Please, Fräulein Hauser," Flip said. "I've been trying to tell you that I
did learn to ski."
"Philippa, we settled that question this morning. Let's not reopen it."
Fräulein Hauser's voice was short again. "Get along to your
classroom, and quickly, all three of you. It's almost time for the bell."
12
At lunch time Flip's name was written in again over the heavy red
line Fräulein Hauser had used to cross it out.
"Flip, you didn't put your name back!" Erna cried.
Flip shook her head desperately. "I didn't! It's not my writing! It's
Fräulein Hauser's writing! Mlle. Dragonet gave me permission to be
in the ski meet. Paul taught me how to ski." She put her hands to her
head. "If I'd thought there'd be all this fuss and bother I'd never have
entered the old ski meet!" Her head was a wild confusion of misery.
If I could just tell them it was Madame who taught me how to ski that
would make it all right, she thought.
"Hey, Flip," Erna said. "If you don't want your pudding, I do."
After lunch Kaatje van Leyden sought her out. "Look here, Philippa, I
hear you're entering the ski meet."
Flip looked up at the older girl. "Yes, Kaatje."
"Fräulein Hauser says you can't ski."
"If I couldn't ski I wouldn't have entered the ski meet," Flip said. Her
mind was beginning to feel cold and numb the way her hands did in
the very cold mornings when she was out skiing.
"Did you know that the points made or lost in the ski meet count for
the school teams?" Kaatje asked. "You could make a team lose for
the year if you pulled it down badly enough in the ski meet."
"I won't pull it down," Flip said, but she was beginning to lose faith in
herself.
"Which team are you?"
"Odds. I'm number 97. Please, Kaatje. I promise you I can ski. I
know I've pulled the Odds down in my gym work but I won't pull them
down in the ski meet."
"But how did you learn to ski? Fräulein Hauser said you were so
hopeless she couldn't teach you. Sorry, but that's what she said and
the ski meet's tomorrow so there isn't time to beat around bushes."
"Please, Kaatje," Flip said, "Paul Laurens, Madame Perceval's
nephew, taught me every week-end, and he's a wonderful skier, and
we skied during the holidays all the time and I've practiced an hour
every morning after breakfast. Please, Kaatje, please believe me!"
Flip implored.
Kaatje put her hands on her hips and looked at Flip. "I don't know
what to think. I'm captain of the Evens as well as School Games
Captain and if the Evens win through your losing points the Odds are
going to blame me for it."
"Do you think Mlle. Dragonet would have put my name back on the
lists if she'd thought I couldn't ski?"
"That's just it," Kaatje said. "I wouldn't think so, but you never know
what the Dragon's going to take it into her head to do. If she's given
you permission and you insist that you can ski I suppose there's
nothing I can do about it." Then her frown disappeared and she gave
Flip a friendly grin. "Here's good luck on it anyhow," she said, holding
out her hand.
"Thanks, Kaatje," Flip said, taking it.
13
It couldn't have been a better day for a ski meet. It was very cold
and still and the sky was that wonderful blue that seems to go up,
up, up, and the sun seemed very bright and very far away in the
heavens. The snow sparkled with blinding brilliance and everybody
was filled with excitement.
But Flip sat in the train on the way up to Gstaad and she felt as cold
and white as the snow and not in the least sparkling. Paul left
Georges Laurens with Mlle. Dragonet and Signorina del Rossi and
came and sat next to Flip. Erna and Jackie and the others greeted
him with pleased excitement. Flip heard Sally whispering to Esmée,
"Didn't I tell you he was divine?"
"So you taught Flip to ski!" Solvei exclaimed.
"I didn't have to do much teaching," Paul said. "She's a born skier."
Esmée got up from her seat and stood by them, attracted to the male
presence like the proverbial fly to honey. "I'm just dying to see Flip
ski," she said, smiling provocatively at Paul. "You were just wonderful
to teach her."
"Esmée, sit down," Miss Armstrong called from the end of the car,
and Esmée reluctantly withdrew.
Flip stared out the window with a set face. Her cheeks felt burning
hot and her hands felt icy cold and she had a dull pain in her
stomach. I'm sick, she thought. I feel awful. I should have gone to
Mlle. Duvoisine and she'd have taken my temperature and put me in
the infirmary and I wouldn't have had to be in the ski meet.
But she realized that the horrible feeling wasn't because she was ill,
but because she was frightened. She was even more frightened than
she had been the night she went to meet the man who said he was
Paul's father at the chateau.
She was hardly aware when Paul left her to join the spectators, or
when Erna pushed her in place to wait until the beginners had
finished. Flip watched the beginners carefully and took heart. She
was much more steady on her skis, they were much more a part of
her, than they were on any of the girls in the beginners group; and
she knew that she executed her turns with far more precision and
surety than any of them. She looked at the beginners and she looked
at the judges, Fräulein Hauser, and Miss Redford who had turned
out to be quite an expert skier, from the school; a jolly looking
English woman who was sports mistress at the English school down
the mountain; and two professional skiers who sat smiling tolerantly
at the efforts of the beginners.
After the beginners had been tested for form they had a short race
which was won by little Lischen Bechman, one of the smallest girls in
the school and then Flip felt Erna pushing her forward. She stood in
line with all the rest of the intermediates, between Erna and Maggie
Campbell. One of the professional skiers stood up to give the
directions. Flip snapped on her skis and pushed off with the others.
She followed directions in a haze and was immeasurably grateful for
the hours of practice which made her execute her christianas and
telemarks with automatic perfection. The judge told half the girls to
drop out, but Flip was among those left standing as the judge put
them through their paces again.
Now all but five of the girls were sent to the side, Flip, Erna, Esmée
Bodet, Maggie Campbell, and Bianca Colantuono. Flip's mouth felt
very dry and the tip of her tongue stuck out between her teeth. This
time the judge only kept them a few minutes.
Jumping was next and only a few of the intermediates had entered
that. Girls clustered around Flip, exclaiming, laughing,
"Why, Flip, you old fox, you!"
"Why did you keep this up your sleeve, Pill?"
"Did Hauser really refuse to teach you?"
And Kaatje van Leyden came over from the seniors and shook her
hand saying, "Good work, Philippa. You really knew what you were
talking about, didn't you? The Odds don't have to worry about your
being on their team."
Flip blushed with pleasure and looked down at the snow under her
feet and she loved it so and was filled with such excitement and
triumph that she wanted to get down on her knees and kiss it; but
instead she watched the jumpers. She felt that Erna was by far the
best and was pleased with the thought that she would win.
Then it was time for the Short Race. Flip stood poised at the top of
the hill and launched herself forward at the signal. She tried to cut
through the cold air with the swift precision of an arrow and was
pleased when she came in fifth, because Madame had told her not
to worry about the Short Race, to enter it only for experience,
because she would do best in the Long Race.
While the seniors lined up for form, Flip and the other intermediates
who had signed up for the Long Race got on the funicular to go up to
the starting point further up the mountain. Madame Perceval had
taken Flip over the course of the race several times during the
holidays so she was almost as familiar with it as the other girls who
had been skiing it once a week with Fräulein Hauser.
They were all tense as they lined up at the starting point. Kaatje van
Leyden gave the signal and they were off. Flip felt a sense of wild
exhilaration as she started down the mountain, and she knew that
nothing else was like this. Flying in a plane could not give you this
feeling of being the bird, of belief in your own personal wings.
Before the race was half over it became evident that it was to be
between Flip, Erna, and Esmée. Flip's mind seemed to be cut
cleanly in half; one half was filled with pure pleasure at the skiing
and the other with a set determination to win this race. The three of
them kept very close together, first one, then another, taking the
advantage. Then, as they had to go through a clump of trees, Erna
took the lead and pushed ahead with Flip next and Esmée dropping
well behind.
Flip made a desperate effort and had just spurted ahead of Erna
when she heard a cry, and, looking back, she saw Erna lying in the
snow. She checked her speed, turned, and went back. As Erna saw
her coming she called out, "Go on, Flip! Go on! Don't worry about
me!"
But she ended on a groan and Flip continued back up the
mountainside. Esmée flashed by without even looking at Erna; and
Flip, as she slowly made her way up the snow, thought, I've lost the
race.
But she knelt by Erna and said, "What happened?"
"Caught the tip of my ski on a piece of ice," Erna gasped. Her face
was very white and her lips were blue with pain and cold. "You
shouldn't have come back."
"Don't be silly," Flip said, and her voice sounded angry. "Is it your
ankle?"
"Yes. I think I've busted it or something."
Flip unsnapped Erna's skis and took them off. Then she unlaced the
boot of the injured ankle and gently pulled it off. "I don't think it's
broken. I think it's a bad sprain."
"What's up?" Kaatje van Leyden who had been skiing down the
mountain side with them drew up beside them.
"Erna's hurt her ankle," Flip said. "I think it's sprained."
Now more of the racers came in sight, but Kaatje waved them on.
"Esmée's won but we might as well see who comes in second and
third."
"Flip lost the race because of me," Erna told Kaatje. "She was way
ahead of Esmée but when I fell she turned around and came back to
me."
"And Esmée went on?" Kaatje asked. "Well, it's a good thing you
came back and got Erna's boot off, Philippa, or we'd have had an
awful time. Her foot's swelling like anything. Hurt badly, Erna?"
Erna, her teeth clenched, nodded.
"Philippa, if we make a chair with our hands do you think we can ski
down together with Erna? It will be quite a job not to jolt her, but I
think we'd better get her down to Duvoisine as soon as possible.
How about it?" Kaatje asked.
"O.K.," Flip said.
Jackie, trailing gallantly down at the tail of the race, stopped in
dismay at the sight of Erna lying on the ground, and helped her up
onto Flip's and Kaatje's hands. Then they started slowly down the
mountain. This was the most difficult skiing Flip had ever done,
because she did not have her arms to help her balance herself and
she and Kaatje had to ski as though they were one, making their
turns and swerves in complete unison in order not to jolt Erna who
was trying bravely not to cry out in pain. Jackie had skied on ahead
and Mlle. Duvoisine was waiting for them with the doctor, and Erna
was borne off to the chalet to be administered to. Flip looked almost
as limp and white as Erna as she went to join the other intermediates
who were eating sandwiches while they waited for the senior events
to be finished.
So now it was all over. She thought she had done well in Form, but
she had lost both races. She felt too tired, and too depressed now
that her part in the long-waited-for meet was over, to be elated
simply because she had skied well.
Just as Kaatje van Leyden came swooping down to win the seniors'
Long Race, Jackie said, "Here's Erna," and Mlle. Duvoisine was
pushing Erna, sitting on one chair, her bandaged foot in a green ski
sock with a large hole in the toe, on another, across the snow to
them. They all clustered about her.