<P> Geographic features encouraged this shared distribution of power . African farmers relied on rain - fed agriculture and consequently invested little in particular pieces of land . Because land was sparsely populated, African farmers could easily flee rulers rather than fight . Establishing absolute control over particular pieces of land was prohibitively costly and consequently a low priority for African elites . </P> <P> Varied and harsh terrain made it difficult for precolonial leaders to continuously exert power from political centers to the hinterlands . Some empires, like the Ashanti Empire, successfully projected power over large distances by building roads . The largest precolonial polities arose in the Sudanian Savanna belt of West Africa because the horses and camels could transport armies over the terrain . In other areas, no centralized political organizations existed above the village level . </P> <P> Because polities did not pretend to control areas that they could not physically reach, shared sovereignty became the norm in precolonial Africa . International and domestic affairs were then less differentiated than in the modern Peace of Westphalia state system . </P> <P> States and Power in Africa was first published in 2000 by Princeton University Press . It is part of the Princeton Studies in International History and Politics book series, edited by John Ikenberry, Marc Trachtenberg, and William Wohlforth . Princeton University Press released a second paperback edition with a new preface written by Herbst in 2014 . A new hardcover edition was released in 2015 . </P>

States and power in africa comparative lessons in authority and control summary