Frontier rule and conflict

Adeel Malik, Rinchan Ali Mirza and Faiz Ur Rehman

No 2025-01, CSAE Working Paper Series from Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford

Abstract: Colonial powers often governed the frontier regions of their colonies differently from non-frontier regions, employing a system of “frontier rule” that restricted access to formal institutions of conflict management and disproportionately empowered local elites. We examine whether frontier rule provides a more fragile basis for maintaining social order in the face of shocks. Using the arbitrarily defined historical border between frontier and non-frontier regions in northwestern Pakistan and 10km-by-10km grid-level conflict data in a spatial regression discontinuity design, we find that areas historically under frontier rule experienced significantly higher violence against the state after 9/11. We argue that 9/11 represented a shock to grievances against the state which, in the absence of formal avenues of conflict management, escalated into sovereignty-contesting violence. A key strategy employed by insurgents in this escalation was the systematic assassination of tribal elites, which undermined the cornerstone of frontier rule’s social order.

JEL-codes: D02 D71 N45 P48 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his and nep-inv
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