Understanding State Institutional Variation in Africa

Session Submission Type: Full Paper Panel

Session Description

Whereas African states were once seen as uniformly weak and ineffective, there is now increasing attention to variation in both the structures and performance of state institutions across, and within, African countries. This panel grapples with the causes and consequences of institutional variation in African states. Specifically, it examines the ways that both social identities and political economies shape the stability, effectiveness and efficiency of state institutions.

The papers break new ground in the study of a number of African states. Kristen Harkness (University of St. Andrews) presents new data on the ethnic stacking in African militaries and links those practices to important outcomes, such as coup propensity across Africa. Rachel Sigman (Naval Postgraduate School) also harnesses novel data, on minister profiles in Benin and Ghana, to examine how elite patronage and party system institutionalization intersect to influence government performance. Ryan Saylor (University of Tulsa) likewise considers the determinants of public sector performance, by analyzing how different types of political coalitions influenced bureaucratic development in the independence era. Finally, Christian Schuster (University College London) presents experimental evidence on how “Big Men” affect the behavior of government workers in contemporary Uganda.

The panel also features two leading scholars in the study of African states, Catherine Boone (London School of Economics) and Kimuli Kasara (Columbia), as well as an expert on state institutions in Latin America, Virginia Oliveros (Tulane), who will offer a cross-regional perspective.

Sub Unit

• DIVISION 53: African Politics Conference Group

Individual Presentations

• The Role of Ethnicity in African Militaries - Kristen A. Harkness, University of St. Andrews

• Coalitional Sources of Good Governance: Insights from Africa’s Exemplars - Ryan Saylor, University of Tulsa

• Activating the ‘Big Man’: Status and Pro-Social Behavior in African Bureaucracy - Christian Schuster, University College London; Adam Harris, University College London; Kim Sass Mikkelsen, Department of Political Science and Government, Aarhus University; Jan-Hinrik Meyer-Sahling, University of Nottingham

• Patronage, Technocracy and Cabinet Performance in African Democracies - Rachel Sigman, Naval Postgraduate School

Chair

• Kimuli Kasara Columbia University

Discussants

• Virginia Oliveros Tulane University

• Catherine Boone London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)