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E-book
Author Nathan, Noah L., 1986- author.

Title The scarce state : inequality and political power in the hinterland / Noah L. Nathan
Published Cambridge ; New York, NY : Cambridge University Press, 2023

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Description 1 online resource (xviii, 348 pages)
Series Cambridge studies in comparative politics
Cambridge studies in comparative politics.
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
Central-local government relations -- Developing countries
Central-local government relations
Politics and government
Rural conditions
Scarcity -- Political aspects
SUBJECT Developing countries -- Politics and government
Developing countries -- Rural conditions
Subject Developing countries
Form Electronic book
ISBN 9781009261111
1009261118