Description |
1 online resource (xviii, 348 pages) |
Series |
Cambridge studies in comparative politics |
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Cambridge studies in comparative politics.
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Contents |
The politics of state scarcity -- The large effects of scarce states -- Northern Ghana's scarce state -- The origins of inequality -- Bottom-up responses to scarcity -- Dynasties -- Invented chiefs and distributive politics -- Non-state violence as a state effect -- Shadow cases -- The paradox of state weakness |
Summary |
States are often minimally present in the rural periphery. Yet a limited presence does not mean a limited impact. Isolated state actions in regions where the state is otherwise scarce can have outsize, long-lasting effects on society. The Scarce State reframes our understanding of the political economy of hinterlands through a multi-method study of Northern Ghana alongside shadow cases from other world regions. Drawing on a historical natural experiment, the book shows how the contemporary economic and political elite emerged in Ghana's hinterland, linking interventions by an ostensibly weak state to new socio-economic inequality and grassroots efforts to reimagine traditional institutions. The book demonstrates how these state-generated societal changes reshaped access to political power, producing dynastic politics, clientelism, and violence. The Scarce State challenges common claims about state-building and state weakness, provides new evidence on the historical origins of inequality, and reconsiders the mechanisms linking historical institutions to contemporary politics |
Notes |
Vendor-supplied metadata |
Subject |
Scarcity -- Political aspects -- Developing countries
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Central-local government relations -- Developing countries
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Central-local government relations
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Politics and government
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Rural conditions
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Scarcity -- Political aspects
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SUBJECT |
Developing countries -- Politics and government
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Developing countries -- Rural conditions
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Subject |
Developing countries
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Form |
Electronic book
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ISBN |
9781009261111 |
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1009261118 |
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