Elite networks and political order​​

 

Why do some states manage to establish systems of peaceful and orderly governance whereas violent turnovers of power and political persecution abound in other countries? Political science and sociological research have long emphasized the crucial role of political elites in establishing or undermining political order, yet we have surprisingly little systematic empirical knowledge on why elites in some countries agree to peacefully cooperate in the governance of their country while in others, they remain trapped in perpetual violent conflict. This new strand of research tackles this question.

I focus on the long-term consequences of pre-independence elite networks in Africa and study the political trajectories of over 1,000 elite individuals to evaluate the impact of their pre-independence political networks on their own and their countries’ post-independence fate in unprecedented detail.