Nevertheless, if the statute had been enacted it would at least have represented a more important reform than anything preceding it. As it was, the pied noir lobby managed to block it just as they had the Blum—Viollette proposals of 1936. A procedural clause was inserted into the statute whereby its five crucial reforms would be made subject to the approval of the Algerian Assembly. Thus, so long as the pieds noirs maintained a majority there, these — like every other attempt at major political reform since 1909 — would never see the light of day. All that remained to be ensured was that this majority would not ever be at risk — which the pied noir politicians set about achieving with ruthless efficiency.

XREF: Connects to broader patterns of colonial rule where procedural mechanisms thwart democratic reform.

Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Alge…, loc. 212