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The Scarce State

The Scarce State

Hardcover

Series: Cambridge Studies in Comparative Politics

General Political ScienceUnited States Politics

ISBN10: 100926110X
ISBN13: 9781009261104
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: Mar 2 2023
Pages: 374
Weight: 1.58
Height: 1.00 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
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.

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Nathan, Noah L.

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United States Politics