Political Topographies of the African State

Territorial Authority and Institutional Choice

• Author(s): Catherine Boone,
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Pages: 405
• ISBN_10: 0521532647
  ISBN_13: 9780521532648
  
• Language: en
• Categories: Political Science / General , Political Science / History & Theory , Political Science / Political Process / General , Political Science / Public Policy / Economic Policy , Political Science / World / African , Social Science / General , Social Science / Anthropology / Cultural & Social , Social Science / Sociology / Rural , Social Science / Regional Studies ,

Description:... This 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, 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-a-vis their followers and subjects, and also vis-a-vis the center.