IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/jocore/v65y2021i2-3p563-590.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Roads to Rule, Roads to Rebel: Relational State Capacity and Conflict in Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Carl Müller-Crepon
  • Philipp Hunziker
  • Lars-Erik Cederman

Abstract

Weak state capacity is one of the most important explanations of civil conflict. Yet, current conceptualizations of state capacity typically focus only on the state while ignoring the relational nature of armed conflict. We argue that opportunities for conflict arise where relational state capacity is low, that is, where the state has less control over its subjects than its potential challengers. This occurs in ethnic groups that are poorly accessible from the state capital, but are internally highly interconnected. To test this argument, we digitize detailed African road maps and convert them into a road atlas akin to Google Maps. We measure the accessibility and internal connectedness of groups via travel times obtained from this atlas and simulate road networks for an instrumental variable design. Our findings suggest that low relational state capacity increases the risk of armed conflict in Africa.

Suggested Citation

  • Carl Müller-Crepon & Philipp Hunziker & Lars-Erik Cederman, 2021. "Roads to Rule, Roads to Rebel: Relational State Capacity and Conflict in Africa," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 65(2-3), pages 563-590, February.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:jocore:v:65:y:2021:i:2-3:p:563-590
    DOI: 10.1177/0022002720963674
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0022002720963674
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0022002720963674?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Benjamin Faber, 2014. "Trade Integration, Market Size, and Industrialization: Evidence from China's National Trunk Highway System," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 81(3), pages 1046-1070.
    2. Eduardo Dargent & Andreas E. Feldmann & Juan Pablo Luna, 2017. "Greater State Capacity, Lesser Stateness:," Politics & Society, , vol. 45(1), pages 3-34, March.
    3. Remi Jedwab & Edward Kerby & Alexander Moradi, 2017. "History, Path Dependence and Development: Evidence from Colonial Railways, Settlers and Cities in Kenya," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 127(603), pages 1467-1494, August.
    4. Parkinson, Sarah Elizabeth, 2013. "Organizing Rebellion: Rethinking High-Risk Mobilization and Social Networks in War," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 107(3), pages 418-432, August.
    5. Yuri M. Zhukov & Charles H. Anderton & Jurgen Brauer, "undated". "On the Logistics of Violence," Working Paper 255276, Harvard University OpenScholar.
    6. Andrews,Donald W. K. & Stock,James H. (ed.), 2005. "Identification and Inference for Econometric Models," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521844413.
    7. Kate Baldwin, 2013. "Why Vote with the Chief? Political Connections and Public Goods Provision in Zambia," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 57(4), pages 794-809, October.
    8. Monica Duffy Toft & Yuri M Zhukov, 2012. "Denial and punishment in the North Caucasus," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 49(6), pages 785-800, November.
    9. Ra�l S�nchez de la Sierra, 2015. "On the Origins of States: Stationary Bandits and Taxation in Eastern Congo," HiCN Working Papers 194, Households in Conflict Network.
    10. Barbara F. Walter, 2006. "Building Reputation: Why Governments Fight Some Separatists but Not Others," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 50(2), pages 313-330, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

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


    Cited by:

    1. Kirschner, Shanna A. & Finaret, Amelia B., 2021. "Conflict and health: Building on the role of infrastructure," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    2. Provenzano, Sandro, 2024. "Accountability failure in isolated areas: the cost of remoteness from the capital city," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 120909, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    3. Provenzano, Sandro, 2024. "Accountability failure in isolated areas: The cost of remoteness from the capital city," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. L. De Benedictis & V. Licio & Am Pinna, 2018. "The long-term effects of the historical Roman road network: trade costs of Italian provinces," Working Paper CRENoS 201801, Centre for North South Economic Research, University of Cagliari and Sassari, Sardinia.
    2. Berger, Thor, 2019. "Railroads and Rural Industrialization: evidence from a Historical Policy Experiment," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    3. Konstantin Buechel, Stephan Kyburz, 2016. "Fast Track to Growth? The Impact of Railway Access on Regional Economic Development in 19th Century Switzerland," Diskussionsschriften credresearchpaper12, Universitaet Bern, Departement Volkswirtschaft - CRED.
    4. Remi Jedwab & Adam Storeygard, 2019. "Economic and Political Factors in Infrastructure Investment: Evidence from Railroads and Roads in Africa 1960–2015," Economic History of Developing Regions, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(2), pages 156-208, May.
    5. Stelios Michalopoulos & Elias Papaioannou, 2020. "Historical Legacies and African Development," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 58(1), pages 53-128, March.
    6. Federico Pablo-Martí & Ángel Alañón-Pardo & Angel Sánchez, 2021. "Complex networks to understand the past: the case of roads in Bourbon Spain," Cliometrica, Springer;Cliometric Society (Association Francaise de Cliométrie), vol. 15(3), pages 477-534, September.
    7. Miquel-Àngel Garcia-López & Camille Hémet & Elisabet Viladecans-Marsal, 2017. "How does transportation shape intrametropolitan growth? An answer from the Regional Express Rail," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(5), pages 758-780, November.
    8. Fenske, James & Kala, Namrata & Wei, Jinlin, 2023. "Railways and cities in India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    9. Taylor Jaworski & Carl T. Kitchens, 2019. "National Policy for Regional Development: Historical Evidence from Appalachian Highways," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 101(5), pages 777-790, December.
    10. Marta Santagata, 2022. "Roads and intra‐national trade: Evidence from Italian regions," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 101(6), pages 1383-1409, December.
    11. Hanlon, W.Walker & Heblich, Stephan, 2022. "History and urban economics," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    12. Matthias Flückiger & Markus Ludwig, 2019. "Transport infrastructure, growth and persistence: The rise and demise of the Sui Canal," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 52(2), pages 624-666, May.
    13. Emran,M. Shahe & Shilpi,Forhad J. & Coulombe,Harold & Blankespoor,Brian, 2019. "Temporary Trade Shocks, Spatial Reallocation, and Persistence in Developing Countries : Evidence from a Natural Experiment in West Africa," Policy Research Working Paper Series 8962, The World Bank.
    14. Ali, Merima & Fjeldstad, Odd‐Helge & Shifa, Abdulaziz B., 2020. "European colonization and the corruption of local elites: The case of chiefs in Africa," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 80-100.
    15. Vania Licio, 2021. "When History Leaves a Mark: A New Measure of Roman Roads," Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, Springer;Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association), vol. 7(1), pages 1-35, March.
    16. Rémi Jedwab & Adam Storeygard, 2022. "The Average and Heterogeneous Effects of Transportation Investments: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa 1960–2010," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 20(1), pages 1-38.
    17. Okoye, Dozie & Pongou, Roland & Yokossi, Tite, 2019. "New technology, better economy? The heterogeneous impact of colonial railroads in Nigeria," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 320-354.
    18. Andreas Eberhard-Ruiz & Alexander Moradi, 2018. "Regional Market Integration and City Growth in East Africa: Local but no Regional Effects?," CSAE Working Paper Series 2018-09, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.
    19. Yi Fan & Ho Pin Teo & Wayne X. Wan, 2021. "Public transport, noise complaints, and housing: Evidence from sentiment analysis in Singapore," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(3), pages 570-596, June.
    20. Vera Mironova & Sam Whitt, 2020. "Mobilizing civilians into high-risk forms of violent collective action," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 57(3), pages 391-405, May.

    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:sae:jocore:v:65:y:2021:i:2-3:p:563-590. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://pss.la.psu.edu/ .

    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.