Legacies of State Formation, Informal Social Reciprocity and Citizenship in Ghana and Ivory Coast.

The paper examines how different histories of state formation and social policy experience shape informal institutions of reciprocity with consequences for the everyday practice of democracy and citizenship in similar regions of Ghana and Ivory Coast. To begin, Morris MacLean draws on original primary data to establish puzzling differences in the informal relations of social reciprocity among extended family, friends, and village neighbors. The significant variations revealed in both the level and structure of informal reciprocal exchange are surprising because these regions shared the same history of precolonial state formation and dominant Akan ethnic culture prior to colonial rule. At the end of the 19th century, European powers agreed on an arbitrary boundary that split this area into two, with one region included in the British colony of the Gold Coast (now Ghana) and the other region belonging to the French colony of Ivory Coast. Morris MacLean shows how subsequent differences in political administration and the provision of social services have profoundly shaped the informal system of social reciprocity today. The paper is based on quantitative and qualitative data collected during over 18 months of intensive fieldwork. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]