Political Topographies of the African State
Territorial Authority and Institutional Choice

This 2003 study brings Africa into the mainstream of studies of state-formation in agrarian societies.

Catherine Boone (Author)

9780521825573, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 27 October 2003

422 pages, 1 b/w illus. 7 maps 7 tables
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.7 cm, 0.67 kg

'the thoroughness of her analysis enables Boone to sustain a compelling argument as to the enormous variation in the state building practices pursued by national governments in post-colonial African states and the success of these practices. In so doing, Boone hasd opened new avenues, along which African scholars can proceed and examine post-colonial state development in other parts of the continent.' African Affairs

This 2003 study brings Africa into the mainstream of studies of state-formation in agrarian societies. Territorial integration is the challenge: institutional linkages and political deals that bind center and periphery are the solutions. In African countries, as in territorially diverse states around the world, rulers at the center are forced to bargain with regional elites to establish stable mechanisms of rule and taxation. Variation in regional forms of social organization make for differences in the interests and political strength of regional leaders who seek to maintain or enhance their power vis-à-vis their followers and subjects, and also vis-à-vis the center. The uneven political topography of the regions ultimately produces unevenness in the patterns and depth of center-region linkage. Six sub-regions of three West African countries - Senegal, Cote d'Ivoire, and Ghana - are the backbone of the study.

1. Introduction
2. Mapping institutional topography
3.1 Uneven institutional topography within one state
3.2 Powersharing in Senegal's groundnut basin
3.3 Administrative occupation in Casamance
3.4 Conclusion
4.1 Taxing rich peasants: ideology as strategy
4.2 Usurping 'rightful rulers': Asante
4.3 'Local powers do not exist': southern Cote d'Ivoire
4.4 Conclusion
5.1 The geopolitics of late development
5.2 Path switching in northern Cote d'Ivoire
5.3 Path switching in the Senegal River Valley
5.4 Conclusion: why institutional strategies change
6. Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Political economy [KCP], Political science & theory [JPA], Regional studies [GTB]