ePrints

Complements or Substitutes? How Institutional Arrangements Bind Traditional Authorities and the State in Africa

Lookup NU author(s): Dr Soeren HennORCiD

Downloads

• Published version [.pdf]

Licence

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).

Abstract

How does the central state affect public good provision by local actors? I study the effect of state capacity on local governance in sub-Saharan Africa, which I argue depends on whether traditional authorities are integrated in the country’s constitution. I use distance to administrative headquarters as a measure of state capacity and estimate a regression discontinuity design around administrative boundaries. If traditional authorities are not integrated then the state and traditional authorities compete with each other, working as substitutes. That is, a stronger state undermines the power of traditional authorities. If traditional authorities are integrated, then the two work ascomplements. A stronger state then increases the power of traditional authorities. I show that these relationships are crucial to understand the effect of state capacity on local economic development.

Publication metadata

Author(s): Henn SJ

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: American Political Science Review

Year: 2023

Volume: 117

Issue: 3

Pages: 871-890

Print publication date: 01/08/2023

Online publication date: 08/11/2022

Acceptance date: 30/09/2022

Date deposited: 02/10/2022

ISSN (print): 0003-0554

ISSN (electronic): 1537-5943

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

URL: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055422001137

DOI: 10.1017/S0003055422001137

Altmetrics

Funding

Share