The neoliberal turn and the consolidation of a transnational bureaucracy

Résumé 0

This research note analyses the prominence taken by a corps of statisticians and economists in Francophone West African since the 1990s. The devaluation of the CFA franc in January 1994 was followed by a policy of economic integration with the primary aim, influenced by European policies, of sustaining macroeconomic stability and budgetary rigor. The creation of Afristat, which became operational in 1996, contributed to the actualization of a multilateral control, through the deployment of harmonized statistical tools. While this enabled France to reduce its bilateral assistance to economic administrations, it also carved out spaces of socialization for West African statisticians, by allowing them to develop career strategies across the national and the international – a dynamic illustrated with the production process of new systems of national accounting. It was also fostered by the completion, during the 1990s, of the africanisation of the training scheme of statisticians and economists set up at the turn of the Independence era. The regional schools of economics and statistics of Abidjan and Dakar are now positioned as cores for the training of the high-level officers of Francophone Western African economic administrations. Finally, the statisticians and economists of the Central Bank of West African states constitute a high administrative elite which puts its expertise at the service of disinflationary policies, while capitalizing on its influence within national and regional political fields. This research note builds on a biographical study of this group of individuals as an entry-point to assess the impact of regional integration around orthodox macroeconomic principles on the constitution of a regional corps of statisticians and economists.