Pre-Colonial Kingdoms and the Coup-Civil War Nexus in Sub-Saharan Africa Jack Paine∗ December 15, 2014 Abstract Rulers of weakly institutionalized states constantly fear coup attempts. The risk of coups may lead rulers to exclude certain ethnic groups from power|despite creat- ing incentives for excluded groups to rebel against the government. But under what conditions do leaders perceive strong threats? Focusing on post-independence Sub- Saharan Africa, this paper argues that leaders of countries containing one or multiple large pre-colonial kingdoms (PCKs) perceived greater hazards from members of other ethnic groups. A formal model examines conditions under which (1) a coup-civil war nexus will arise and (2) a strategic ruler will pursue ethnic exclusion. Empirically, PCK groups undermined possibilities for developing strong inter-ethnic institutional ties, which undermined commitment ability after independence. Statistical evidence at the country and ethnic group level, alongside case evidence, shows PCKs are an im- portant explanation for ethnic exclusion, coups, and civil wars in Sub-Saharan Africa during the Cold War era. ∗Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Political Science, University of California, Berkeley,
[email protected] 1 Contents 1 Introduction 3 2 Modeling the Tradeoff Between Ethnic Inclusion and Exclusion 6 2.1 Setup . .6 2.2 Model Analysis . .9 3 How Pre-Colonial Kingdoms Caused Weak Institutions and a Coup-Civil War Nexus 15 3.1 How PCK Groups Caused Regional Schisms and Undermined Inter-Ethnic Institutions . 15 3.2 Empirical Examples of PCKs Causing Weak Institutions and Political Violence . 20 3.3 Hypotheses . 22 4 Case Selection and Data 25 4.1 Case Selection .