Suchergebnisse

This thesis proposes a unique quantitative investigation of the long-term development of modern states in Sub-Saharan Africa. This is done by measuring and analysing the dynamic history of tax revenue, as a key measure of the capacity of the state, and development in four countries in francophone West Africa – Benin, Côte d'Ivoire, Niger and Senegal – over the long 20th century. This approach contrasts with that of previous quantitative studies of state capacity in Africa by bridging the colonial and the independent periods and taking issue with static generalisations and typologies about African states. The thesis applies both historical and econometric methods to describe and assess various economic and political explanations to long-term state development in the West African context. In this way, the thesis makes a historically and empirically grounded contribution to ourunderstanding of current levels of state capacity and development in francophone West Africa.Three main conclusions can be drawn from the findings. First, modern African states have dynamic histories that help us understand from where they come and explain their current diversity, strengths and weaknesses. This thesis presents strong evidence of significant long-term growth of state capacity and economic and social development in the four West African countries. This long-term expansion of fiscal capacity in the four countries is not properly recognised in the contemporary development literature, which tends to emphasise the current weaknesses of African governments and fiscal systems within much shorter time perspective.Second, our understanding of African states cannot be reduced to colonial legacies or explained by institutional persistence. There were indeed clear common temporal patterns among the four countries with significant continuity over independence, but also important differences depending on economic, political and social contexts. In this way, Africa is not different from other parts of the world. Instead, what deserves much more empirical attention is the impact of the continuous external dependency and isomorphism to which African states are subjected.Third, despite long-term growth, state capacity in the four countries has been constrained by limited social and economic development just as theory would predict. Yet, many African countries tax more than Western countries did at similar stages of development. Such high tax burdens may have negative effects on economic activity. The implication is that any hopes of increasing domestic resource mobilisation to finance e.g. the Sustainable Development Goals may be disappointing unless accompanied with sustained economic and social transformation.In sum, the evidence presented in this thesis on the fiscal trajectories and economic development of Benin, Côte d'Ivoire, Niger and Senegal is testimony to the great achievements of state development in francophone West Africa over the long 20th century, but also to the historical vulnerability and external dependency of these states.

Contemporary African fiscal systems are usually portrayed as being subject to significant instability, which has negative consequences for public spending and development. However, this paper documents significant long-term fiscal stabilisation in Benin, Côte d'Ivoire, Niger and Senegal as measured by reductions in tax revenue instability and the responsiveness of tax revenue to trade over a 120-year period. This historical process of long-term fiscal stabilisation in francophone West Africa has not been properly acknowledged in the contemporary fiscal policy literature that tends to focus on recent decades. Moreover, it is shown qualitatively and econometrically that this fiscal stabilisation has been accompanied with a longterm reduction in the volatility of trade, a change in tax composition away from trade taxes to indirect domestic taxes, and major shifts in development policy paradigms. This points to the value of studying African fiscal systems over long periods of time to identify relationships not apparent from a short-term perspective and understand the intricate mechanisms and dynamics that characterize the development process.

This study contributes to African state and fiscal history by presenting a detailed comparison of the evolution of fiscal capacity in four countries in francophone West Africa – Benin, Côte d'Ivoire, Niger and Senegal - over both the colonial and independent periods. While common patterns and persistence can be observed it is instead the unique fiscal pathways of the individual countries that stand out. These pathways can only be understood by analyzing how the underlying economic and political factors of each country develop over time. The importance of the colonial heritage in the development of fiscal capacity for individual countries should therefore not be overemphasized.

A wave of recent research has attempted to explain within-country variations in the rise of primary schooling by studying local political and economic conditions. There is a particular focus on the role of the spread of democratisation and local elites in the development of schooling. An important lesson coming out of these studies is that conditions varied markedly between countries and over time. This paper studies the development of primary schools in rural Sweden after the school reform of 1842 in the context of industrialisation and democratisation of Swedish society. The findings give support to an elite-control interpretation of the spread of schooling in the latter half of the 19 century, rather than a bottom-up movement related to the spread of democratisation. This can be explained by the fact that Sweden remained an elite-democracy during the period and that industrialisation was relatively late.

This study contributes to African state and fiscal history by presenting a detailed comparison of the evolution of fiscal capacity in four countries in francophone West Africa – Benin, Côte d'Ivoire, Niger and Senegal - over both the colonial and independent periods. While common patterns and persistence can be observed it is instead the unique fiscal pathways of the individual countries that stand out. These pathways can only be understood by analyzing how the underlying economic and political factors of each country develop over time. The importance of the colonial heritage in the development of fiscal capacity for individual countries should therefore not be overemphasized. 1 Introduction

Recent studies of witchcraft and sorcery in Africa have described this domain as an all–powerful and inescapable discourse. This article, on a migrant labour society in Zimbabwe, discloses a situation in which this discourse and its interpretation are contested. It shows how existential insecurity, which gives rise to witchcraft accusations, relates to the high incidence of HIV/AIDS–related illnesses and death – euphemistically called Henry IV (HIV). Witchcraft accusations arise within kin–based networks that span rural and urban geographical areas, as it is these networks that people depend upon for their livelihoods. Thus, this article stresses the important link between witchcraft and kinship in a society that is not geographically bound, revealing how witchcraft discourse is assigned a place relative to other social phenomena.