The State and Traditional Governance Nexus: Empirical Evidence from Africa

Session Submission Type: Virtual Full Paper Panel

Session Description

In recent years, political scientists have begun to pay greater attention to how states interact with traditional authorities, with some scholars focusing on their role in public goods provision and others on their role in elections. This panel brings together scholars focusing on both sets of outcomes, with the goal of learning about how the two types of activities relate. The papers in this panel explore the nexus between state and traditional governance, employing a variety of research methods and original data to empirically investigate the powers of traditional authorities across different contexts and a variety of outcomes. The work presented here also seeks to understand the mechanisms behind why citizens listen to and follow the advice of local authorities as well as whether traditional governance institutions either compete with or complement state ones.

Focusing on a crucial feature of democracies, Brierly and Ofosu examine the effect of chiefly endorsements on electoral outcomes in Ghana. Leste and Wilfahrt further our understanding of why individuals might vote in accordance with their chiefs’ wishes, fleshing out the broader role that chiefs play in the borderlands of Ghana and Togo. Baldwin, Kao and Lust use a survey experiment to consider how the ability of different authorities (state and non-state) to motivate compliance varies across the type of activity engagement sought and why in Kenya, Zambia, and Malawi. Finally, Henn compares subnational state versus traditional governance models in the Democratic Republic of Congo, examining their effects on broader community development outcomes. This work contributes to our broader understanding of governance and development in the Global South.

Sub Unit

• Division 53: African Politics

Cosponsor

• Division 11: Comparative Politics

Individual Presentations

• Do Endorsements by Traditional Leaders Affect Voter Attitudes? - Sarah Brierley, London School of Economics; George Kwaku Ofosu, London School of Economics and Political Science

• Who Votes with the Chief? Evaluating Traditional Authority in Ghana and Togo - Martha Wilfahrt, University of California, Berkeley; Natalie Wenzell Letsa, University of Oklahoma

• How Leaders Gain Compliance: Survey Experiments on Variation by Activity - Katharine A. Baldwin, Yale University; Ellen M. Lust, University of Gothenburg

• Comparing Governance by Traditional and State Institutions in the DRC - Soeren Jannik Henn, IPA & University of Chicago

Chair

• Lauren M. MacLean Indiana University, Bloomington

Discussants

• Peter Van der Windt

• Kristen Kao University of Gothenburg