The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and the Evolution of Political Authority in West Africa

Warren Whatley

No 13/2013, African Economic History Working Paper from African Economic History Network

Abstract: I trace the impact of the trans-Atlantic slave trade on the evolution of political authority in West Africa. I present econometric evidence showing that the trans-Atlantic slave trade increased absolutism in pre-colonial West Africa by approximately 17% to 35%, while reducing democracy and liberalism. I argue that this slavery-induced absolutism also influenced the structure of African political institutions in the colonial era and beyond. I present aggregate evidence showing that British colonies that exported more slaves in the era of the slave trade were ruled more-indirectly by colonial administrations. I argue that indirect colonial rule relied on sub-national absolutisms to control populations and extract surplus, and in the process transformed absolutist political customs into rule of law. The post-colonial federal authority, like the colonial authority before it, lacked the administrative apparatus and political clout to integrate these local authorities, even when they wanted to. From this perspective, state-failure in West Africa may be rooted in a political and economic history that is unique to Africa in many respects, a history that dates at least as far back as the era of the transatlantic slave trade.

Keywords: Africa; slavery; trade; political authority; rule of law (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: N37 N47 N57 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 35 pages
Date: 2013-11-06
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
Working Paper: The transatlantic slave trade and the evolution of political authority in West Africa (2012)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hhs:afekhi:2013_013

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in African Economic History Working Paper from African Economic History Network
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Erik Green ().