Political Topographies of the African State

Know about the book -

Political Topographies of the African State is written by Catherine Boone and published by Cambridge University Press. It's available with International Standard Book Number or ISBN identification 0521532647 (ISBN 10) and 9780521532648 (ISBN 13).

This study brings Africa into the mainstream of studies of state-formation in agrarian societies. Territorial integration is the challenge: institutional linkages and political deals that bind center and periphery are the solutions. In African countries, rulers at the center are forced to bargain with regional elites to establish stable mechanisms of rule and taxation. Variation in regional forms of social organization make for differences in the interests and political strength of regional leaders who seek to maintain or enhance their power vis-a-vis their followers and subjects, and also vis-a-vis the center.