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15 - The Transatlantic Slave Trade and the Evolution of Political Authority in West Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 September 2014

By
Warren C. Whatley
Edited by
Emmanuel Akyeampong ,
Robert H. Bates ,
Nathan Nunn  and
James Robinson
Warren C. Whatley
Affiliation:
University of Michigan
Emmanuel Akyeampong
Affiliation:
Harvard University, Massachusetts
Robert H. Bates
Affiliation:
Harvard University, Massachusetts
Nathan Nunn
Affiliation:
Harvard University, Massachusetts
James Robinson
Affiliation:
Harvard University, Massachusetts
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Summary

Since the publication of Douglas North’s Structure and Change in Economic History (1981), social scientists have accumulated an abundance of new evidence showing how institutions shape the structures and performance of economies as they move through time. African economies are no exception. The term patrimonial (or neo-patrimonial) is controversial, but it is often used to describe a class of postcolonial African nation-states where a weak federal authority attempts to rule over ethnically based local authorities. Political stability often rests on an unstable coalition of patrons and clients who extract large amounts of national income through personal networks, intimidation, corruption, and bribes. In these kinds of “failed states,” public policy is influenced more by a political calculation to retain the privileges of power than by the political authorities’ credibly committed to improve growth and welfare. The recent spread of democratic institutions like multiparty politics has improved accountability, but stability and violence are often more pressing concerns. It is difficult for people to prosper under this kind of uncertainty, unless of course they have access to a personal network of patrons and clients that defines the resources available to them.

What are the historical origins of this type of political system? The traditional view links it to the era of colonial rule and how it birthed a disjointed and decentralized nation-state. Mamdani (1996) is perhaps the best-known proponent of this view. He sees the most important political outcome of colonial rule to be a kind of dual legal system – European laws for colonial rulers and a variety of “customary” laws for colonial “subjects.” In a very real sense, the postcolonial nation-state is the colonial state adjusted to new political realities like democratic elections, new global economic forces, stronger internal challenges, and mounting international debt.

Type
Chapter
Information
Africa's Development in Historical Perspective , pp. 460 - 488
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2014

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