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  3. Precolonial Legacies in Postcolonial Politics
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    • Publisher:
      Cambridge University Press
      Publication date:
      14 August 2021
      19 August 2021
      ISBN:
      9781108996983
      DOI:
      https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108996983
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      • Subjects:
      Area Studies, African Studies, Politics and International Relations, Comparative Politics, African Government, Politics and Policy
      Series:
      Cambridge Studies in Comparative Politics
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    Subjects:
    Area Studies, African Studies, Politics and International Relations, Comparative Politics, African Government, Politics and Policy
    Series:
    Cambridge Studies in Comparative Politics
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    Book description

    Why are some communities able to come together to improve their collective lot while others are not? Looking at variation in local government performance in decentralized West Africa, this book advances a novel answer to this question: communities are better able to coordinate around basic service delivery when their formal jurisdictional boundaries overlap with informal social institutions, or norms. This book identifies the precolonial past as the driver of striking subnational variation in the present because these social institutions only encompass the many villages of the local state in areas that were once home to precolonial polities. Drawing on a multi-method research design, the book develops and tests a theory of institutional congruence to document how the past shapes contemporary elite approaches to redistribution within the local state. Where precolonial kingdoms left behind collective identities and dense social networks, local elites find it easier to cooperate following decentralization.

    Awards

    Honorable Mention, 2022 Giovanni Sartori Award, American Political Science Association

    Reviews

    ‘The book … reveals a very extensive reading of the literature on decentralization, pre-colonial and colonial legacies in Africa, and local governance in West Africa and beyond, and therefore contains a very useful list of references for scholars interested in any of these topics. This allows the author to aptly frame and clearly explain how her argument builds on but also departs from existing work.'

    Joan Ricart-Huguet Source: Journal of Development Studies

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