The Scarce State: Inequality and Political Power in the Hinterland

By Noah L. Nathan

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.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 100926110X
• ISBN13: 9781009261104
• Release Date: March 2023
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Length: 374 Pages
• Weight: 1.58 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.0" x 9.0"