Doctoral Dissertation Research in Political Science: Traditional Authority in the State: Chiefs and Taxation in Ghana

University Of California-San Diego, La Jolla CA

Investigators

Abstract

What are the politics of traditional authority in the modern state? Scholars of Africa often depict traditional authority as antagonistic to the power of elected officials. But increasing anecdotal evidence reveals a more complex relationship that generates crucial political and economic consequences. I seek to explain the interaction between formal and informal political institutions in Ghana with a strategic analysis, describing both variation in cooperation and the political and developmental outcomes that result. I hypothesize that a strategic delegation relationship exists between elected local politicians (principals) and local chiefs (agents) to facilitate greater re-election success for candidates with chiefs influencing citizen vote choice. In exchange for this service, chiefs gain greater fiscal autonomy without interference by the government. This trade of services between chiefs and politicians both enriches chiefs financially and increases their legitimacy as powerful figures in the community. This increased power in the development sphere allows chiefs to parlay that influence into vote mobilization for certain candidates. As chiefs become more involved in coordinating fiscal decisions, the daily importance of elected government decreases. The delegation relationship between officials and chiefs weakens the electoral connections between politicians and citizens, ultimately lowering democratic competition. To understand this delegation environment, I utilize several methods, combining nation-wide descriptive analysis, formal theory, and a large household survey in southern Ghana. I will use chiefly authority to explain electoral outcomes at the polling station level by using data from my measure of traditional power and electoral data to better understand the strategic considerations of this delegation. I will create a formal model of delegation with moral hazard, where the wage contract represents the level of fiscal autonomy chiefs are granted. Lastly, I will use a random natural experiment that has an intervention for the level of traditional authority in order to assess causal effects. I use information about the location of built and planned railroads in colonial Ghana to argue that modern transportation infrastructure weakened the traditional social fabric. I then plan to sample villages along the treatment and placebo rail lines to conduct a large household survey about voter mobilization, tax contribution, and public service access. This project will have a number of broader impacts. It can help policymakers as they design political and economic development projects. Donor officials know the power that traditional authorities have over the success and failure of their projects, yet little research has been attempted to document and explain this power. Understanding the relationship between local politics and traditional authority is a great step toward designing policy that can more effectively meet its objectives. This research has the ability to influence how policy-makers view the role of informal political actors within the democratic process. Currently, Ghanaian chiefs are constitutionally barred from the political process. If I find evidence that chiefs undermine the democratic process, this could lead to enhanced voter education and anti-vote buying campaigns within Ghana. Conversely, if I find evidence of greater efficiency and quality of public services provided by local informal institutions, this might lead to greater delegation of fiscal authority and power for chiefs to promote local development, a policy that could have widespread implications beyond Ghana and Africa. By including informal and traditional authority into the scope of policy analysis within these societies, new strategies to enhance the democratic process and promote economic growth may be identified. The findings of this study will apply to Ghana specifically, but its lessons may apply to other developing country contexts as well.