Uneven Development and Political Cleavage in Africa: Regional Tensions Around New Growth Models
| Dates: | 6 November 2024 |
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| Times: | 16:30 - 18:00 |
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| What is it: | Lecture |
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| Organiser: | Global Development Institute |
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| Who is it for: | University staff, External researchers, Adults, Alumni, Current University students, General public |
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Speaker: Catherine Boone (LSE)
This talk draws upon Inequality and Political Cleavage in Africa (Cambridge, 2024) to trace the roots of strong regionalism within African countries, arguing that this arises from both inequalities rooted in economic geography and the structure of political institutions. In many African countries, we see forms of regionalism and territorial politics that are observed in countries around the world that are marked by strong regional inequalities. These give rise to policy divides that are typical of territorially divided countries -- including divisions around redistributive policy, sectoral policy, problems of national market integration, and constitutional design. This talk links these regional tensions to strains within African countries around 21st century growth models based on new export sectors, extractives, and infrastructure development. Examples are drawn from Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Côte d’Ivoire, and South Africa, among others.
Catherine Boone is Harold Laski Professor of Political Science at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and holds a PhD in Political Science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her research focuses on questions of comparative political economy. In addition to book featured in this talk, she is author of Property and Political Order: Land Rights and the Structure of Conflict in Africa (2014); Political Topographies of the African State: Territorial Authority and Institutional Choice (2003), Merchant Capital and the Roots of State Power in Senegal (1993), and book chapters and articles. She convened the LSE MSc program in Africa Development from 2014-2020. She was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2020 and became a Fellow of the British Academy in 2021. She has convened the LSE-UCL Land Politics Working Group since 2015.
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