How do states build a security apparatus after violent resistance against state rule? We argue that in early periods of state-building two main factors shape this process: the macro-strategic goals of the state and administrative challenges of personnel management. We study these dynamics in the context of the establishment of police forces in the settler colony of German Southwest Africa, present-day Namibia. Our empirical analysis relies on information on the location of police stations and a near full census of police forces, compiled from the German Federal Archives. We find a mismatch between the allocation of police presence and the allocation of police forces. While the first was driven by locations’ strategic value in terms of extractive potential, political importance, and the presence of critical infrastructure, the allocation of individual officers was likely affected by adverse selection leading to the assignment of low quality recruits to strategically important locations. Jan Pierskalla from the Department of Political Science will lead the discussion.
Free and open to the public. Nigerian food will be served. Contact Laura Joseph at cas@osu.edu for more information.