VERGİ YOLUYLA EGEMENLİK: FRANSIZ BATI AFRİKASI’NDA MALİ KURUMLARIN SÖMÜRGECİ MİRASI

Abstract

Bu çalışma, Fransız Batı Afrikası’nda (AOF) sömürge döneminde kurulan mali kurumların ekonomik işlevlerinden çok, siyasal egemenliği tesis eden ve toplumsal hiyerarşiyi yeniden üreten birer iktidar aracı olarak işlediğini ortaya koymaktadır. Fransa’nın uyguladığı baş vergisi (capitation), zorunlu emek (prestations) ve kan vergisi (impôt du sang) politikaları, kamu maliyesini bir toplumsal denetim mekanizması hâline getirmiştir. Vergilendirme, kamu hizmetlerinin finansmanından ziyade idari itaati sağlamak ve kolonilerde siyasal bağlılığı pekiştirmek amacıyla kullanılmış; böylece mali düzen, devlet inşasından çok imparatorluk kontrolünü sürdüren disipliner bir karakter kazanmıştır. Sömürge bütçelerinde eğitim, sağlık ve altyapı gibi kamusal hizmetler geri planda kalırken, yönetim aygıtı ile güvenlik mekanizmalarına yönelik harcamalar öncelik kazanmıştır. Tarihsel kurumsalcı bir perspektifle çalışma, bu yapının bağımsızlık sonrasında ‘mali bağımlılık’ biçiminde nasıl yeniden üretildiğini tartışmaktadır. Kıyı ve iç bölge kolonileri arasındaki farklar, mali kapasitenin ekonomik üretkenlikten çok coğrafi erişim ve idari denetimle belirlendiğini göstermektedir. Sonuç olarak, kamu maliyesi ekonomik rasyonellikten öte, sömürge sonrası dönemde de varlığını sürdüren bir iktidar rejiminin dili olarak ele alınmaktadır.

Keywords

• Mali Egemenlik
• Sömürge Maliyesi
• Fransız Batı Afrikası
• Mali Bağımlılık

SOVEREIGNTY THROUGH TAXATION: THE COLONIAL LEGACY OF FISCAL INSTITUTIONS IN FRENCH WEST AFRICA

Abstract

This study demonstrates that fiscal institutions established during the colonial period in French West Africa (AOF) functioned less as economic instruments of power than as instruments of power that established political dominance and reproduced social hierarchy. The policies of the French capitation, forced labor (prestations), and blood tax (imput du sang) transformed public finance into a mechanism of social control. Taxation was used to ensure administrative obedience and reinforce political loyalty in the colonies rather than to finance public services; thus, fiscal order acquired a disciplinary character that perpetuated imperial control rather than state-building. Public services such as education, healthcare, and infrastructure were marginalized in colonial budgets, while expenditures on administrative apparatus and security mechanisms gained priority. Taking a historical institutionalist perspective, the study discusses how this structure was reproduced in the form of ‘fiscal dependency’ after independence. Differences between coastal and inland colonies demonstrate that fiscal capacity was determined by geographical access and administrative control rather than economic productivity. As a result, public finance is considered as the language of a ruling regime that continues to exist in the post-colonial period, rather than economic rationality.

Keywords

• Fiscal Sovereignty
• Colonial Finance
• French West Africa
• Fiscal Dependency

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