African Politics: Politics of the State WTPs

State

a set of political institutions that govern within a delineated sovereign territory; monopoly on the legitimate use of violence.

Political regime

a set of institutions (norms and rules) by which political authority is exercised within a state.

government

a set of people who run the state or have the authority to act on behalf of the state at a particular point in time.

society

the organizations that arise out of voluntary association within a society, found between the extended family and the state.

external interests

foreign government, international organizations, and transnational corporations that interact with African states.

non-hegemonic state

a state that does not exercise uniform, complete authority over its territory. Pre-colonial African states often had overlapping jurisdictions and power that weakened toward the periphery.

stateless society

a society without a centralized state structure. some relied on autonomous villages, councils, kinship, and local-conflict resolution systems.

kinship

social and political relationships based on family lineage, shared ancestry, and reciprocal obligations.

legitimacy

the belief that a ruler or institution has the right to exercise political authority.

political authority

the belief that state personnel and institutions should be obeyed.

coercive authority

the use or threat of violence to obtain compliance.

legal-rational political order

an order based on impersonal institutions, established rules, the rule of law, and formal procedures rather than an individual’s personal interests.

centralization of the state

the concentration of political power in the executive, taking authority away from civil society and peripheral state institutions.

personal rule

a system in which one individual dominated political activity through control of state institutions and patron-client networks.

patrimonial rule

a system in which political authority and state affairs are treated as the ruler’s personal domain.

neopatrimonial rule

the exercise of patrimonial authority through the remnants of formal, rational-legal institutions; public and private roles become blended.

clientelism

an exchange in which a powerful patron provides resources, protection, or benefits to a client in return for political support or assistance.

one-party state

a political system in which one party dominates or monopolizes legal political activity, preventing meaningful multiparty competition.

crisis of accumulation

the failure to generate wealth through productive investment of surplus capital.

crisis of governance

the failure of the state to provide political structures that represent civil society effectively.

state failure

a condition in which state institutions lose the ability to exercise authority, uphold law, make and enforce decisions, or provide public services.

state collapse

a severe form of state failure in which central institutions can no longer project authority and armed groups may replace state institutions.

state capacity

the ability of a state to carry out its core functions, exercise authority, implement decisions, and provide services.

warlord state

a system in which coercive resources are used to protect strategic interests, without meaningful representation or public-service provision.