Inequality and Political Cleavage in Africa (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781009441636)

This pathbreaking work integrates African countries into broader comparative theories of how spatial inequality shapes political competition over the construction of markets, states, and nations. Existing literature on African countries has found economic cleavages, institutions, and policy choices to be of low salience in national politics. This book inverts these arguments. Boone trains our analytic focus on the spatial inequalities and territorial institutions that structure national politics in Africa, showing that regional cleavages find expression in both electoral competition and policy struggles over redistribution, sectoral investment, market integration, and state design. Leveraging comparative politics theory, Boone argues that African countries' regional and core-periphery tensions are similar to those that have shaped national economic integration in other parts of the world. Bringing together electoral and economic geography, the book offers a new and powerful map of political competition on the African continent.

Author: Catherine Boone
ISBN-10: 1009441639
ISBN-13: 9781009441636
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Language: English
Published: 04/25/2024
Pages: 350
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.40lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.81d