IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cup/apsrev/v109y2015i03p535-555_00.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Clan Governance and State Stability: The Relationship between Female Subordination and Political Order

Author

Listed:
  • HUDSON, VALERIE M.
  • BOWEN, DONNA LEE
  • NIELSEN, PERPETUA LYNNE

Abstract

We propose that the relative influence of clans is an important explanatory factor producing significant variation in state stability and security across societies. We explore the micro-level processes that link clan predominance with dysfunctional syndromes of state behavior. Clans typically privilege agnatic descent from the patriline and are characterized by extreme subordination of women effected through marriage practices. Particular types of marriage practices give rise to particular types of political orders and may be fiercely guarded for just this reason. We construct and validate a Clan Governance Index to investigate which variables related to women's subordination to the patriline in marriage are useful to include in such an index. We then show that clan governance is a useful predictor of indicators of state stability and security, and we probe the value added by its inclusion with other conventional explanatory variables often linked to state stability and security. “I against my brothers; my brothers and I against my cousins; my cousins, my brothers, and I against the world” (Bedouin saying) “At the heart of tribes, to varying levels, is a severe patriarchy” (Jacobson 2013, 58).

Suggested Citation

  • Hudson, Valerie M. & Bowen, Donna Lee & Nielsen, Perpetua Lynne, 2015. "Clan Governance and State Stability: The Relationship between Female Subordination and Political Order," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 109(3), pages 535-555, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:apsrev:v:109:y:2015:i:03:p:535-555_00
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0003055415000271/type/journal_article
    File Function: link to article abstract page
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Krieger, Tim & Renner, Laura, 2020. "Polygyny, inequality, and social unrest," Discussion Paper Series 2020-02, University of Freiburg, Wilfried Guth Endowed Chair for Constitutional Political Economy and Competition Policy.
    2. Srinivas Goli & Somya Arora & Neha Jain & Sekher T. V., 2024. "Patrilocality and Child Sex Ratios in India," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 43(4), pages 1-28, August.
    3. Djemaï, Elodie & Kevane, Michael, 2023. "Effects of education on political engagement in rural Burkina Faso," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    4. Siwan Anderson, 2022. "Unbundling female empowerment," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 55(4), pages 1671-1701, November.
    5. Meierrieks, Daniel & Renner, Laura, 2021. "Islamist terrorism and the role of women," Discussion Paper Series 2021-02, University of Freiburg, Wilfried Guth Endowed Chair for Constitutional Political Economy and Competition Policy.
    6. Donna Lee Bowen & Valerie M. Hudson & Perpetua Lynne Nielsen, 2015. "State Fragility and Structural Gender Inequality in Family Law: An Empirical Investigation," Laws, MDPI, vol. 4(4), pages 1-19, October.
    7. Cheng, Jiameng & Dai, Yanke & Lin, Shu & Ye, Haichun, 2021. "Clan culture and family ownership concentration: Evidence from China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    8. Scott J Cook & Cameron G Thies, 2021. "In plain sight? Reconsidering the linkage between brideprice and violent conflict1," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 38(2), pages 129-146, March.
    9. Neha Jain, 2022. "Patrilocality and Child Sex Ratios in India," Working Papers 2265, Indian Institute of Foreign Trade.
    10. Robert Ulrich Nagel, 2021. "Gendered preferences: How women’s inclusion in society shapes negotiation occurrence in intrastate conflicts," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 58(3), pages 433-448, May.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cup:apsrev:v:109:y:2015:i:03:p:535-555_00. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Kirk Stebbing (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cambridge.org/psr .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.