Political Structure as a Legacy of Indirect Colonial Rule: Bargaining between National Governments and Rural Elites in Africa

This paper provides a model to understand when a national government cedes resources to rural elites. * Powerful rural elites impede the government from collecting revenue in rural sectors. * Thus, the government has a weak bargaining position when facing powerful rural elites. * The government invests in the capacity to control rural regions (coercive capacity). * If the government does not ally with rural elites, its coercive capacity is increasing in rural elites' power. Alliances between national governments and rural elites are observed in postcolonial Africa. Governments rely on rural el... Mehr ...