The Scarce State

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.

Author: Noah L. Nathan
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 03/02/2023
Pages: 310
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.58lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 1.00d
ISBN: 9781009261104

About the Author
Nathan, Noah L.: - Noah L. Nathan is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is the author of Electoral Politics and Africa's Urban Transition: Class and Ethnicity in Ghana (2019).