The Resurgence of Comparative Political Economy Approaches to the Study of Africa

Following the independence of African countries in the 1960s and 1970s, many newly minted politicians and political scientists who studied them directed their attention to the effects of ethnic identities, heterogeneity, rivalries, and alliances on African politics. In the aftermath of colonial violence and social engineering, ethnic competition contributed to violent secessionist movements, and ethnic hatred sometimes fueled genocide. Many African governments expelled minorities and banned ethnic parties, established federal institutions, and at times adopted nationalist rhetoric to punish rivals or mitigate the deleterious outcomes of ethnic conflict. As Christof Hartmann summarizes, “political regulation of ethnicity has been a core dimension of state-building in Africa” (“Managing Ethnicity in African Politics,” in Nic Cheeseman, ed., The Oxford Encyclopedia of African Politics , 2019: 1).