Publication

This working paper reviews recent literature on the role of traditional leaders in Sub-Saharan Africa and discusses the often complex consequences of recognizing traditional leaders in decentralized governance. The authors detail how traditional leaders have previously been drawn into mainstream processes of state-building and democratization in Africa and how such processes have often caused ambiguous results. The paper therefore argues for the need to scrutinize official recognition of traditional leaders from an empirical perspective. The authors emphasize the need to practically analyze how traditional leaders should be drawn into local governance through effective state policies.