Seminar
Past
State-building and the Social Contract in Dual Polities
- Date12 June 2026
- Time 11h30 - 12h30
- Room Auditorium 4 (First floor - TSE Building)
Résumé
Weak states often coexist alongside non-state traditional political institutions (TPIs) in "dual polities," where citizens maintain simultaneous social contracts with both state and non-state authorities. While it is well known that state-building transforms individuals' relationship with the state, less is known about how it reshapes citizens' contracts with non-state authorities. We study this question in the context of a recent property tax reform in Makeni City, Sierra Leone that simultaneously enhanced local government informational and fiscal capacity. Our research design exploits a geographic discontinuity in the reform's implementation: the reform imposed a hard administrative boundary determining which properties received tax bills, with all properties inside the boundary receiving bills and none outside doing so. We conceptualize the treatment—receiving a tax bill—as a shock to both tax demand and citizens' perceptions of state legibility. We use a regression discontinuity design to estimate the effect of this state-building intervention on citizens' social contracts with both the state and local TPIs. Outcomes of interest, measured using a survey and a set of behavioral measures, capture key dimensions of these contracts: fiscal and labor contributions, political engagement and participation, and political leader legitimacy. At this internal seminar, I will present preliminary results.
Other seminars
To be announced
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Seminar
-
IAST Lunch Seminar
-
Date 11 December 2026
-
Place Auditorium 4 (first floor - TSE building)
-
Speaker or organiser Jesse Fenneman
Détails
To be announced
-
Seminar
-
IAST Lunch Seminar
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Date 4 December 2026
-
Place Auditorium 4 (first floor - TSE building)
-
Speaker or organiser SeungHwan Kim
Détails
To be announced
-
Seminar
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IAST Lunch Seminar
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Date 20 November 2026
-
Place Auditorium 4 (First Floor - TSE Building)
-
Speaker or organiser Laurenz Guenther
Détails