How coercive were African colonial states?

New Working Paper by Denis Cogneau & @zhexunmo.bsky.social explores 2 pillars of French colonial rule in West Africa:
🔸Military conscription (or blood tax/"impôt du sang")
🔹Head tax ("capitation")

🔗Paper https://wid.world/news-article/enforcing-colonial-rule-blood-tax-and-head-tax-in-french-west-africa/

💡key findings (2/2)