48 SOCIAL CONTRACTS FOR DEVELOPMENT
relative power in ways that can alter social contracts. Urbanization, for example, can strengthen collective action, as can digital technologies, but these are not panaceas. Efforts to strengthen state capacity and responsiveness to these pressures can be important to mitigating instability and repressive tendencies.
• Elite bargains. The nature of elite bargains is also not static, shifting as politi-
cal maneuvering and competition change the nature of rent distribution or “pacting” arrangements. The Senegal and South Africa case studies in this chapter show how changes within elite coalitions can open up some areas for more progressive social contracts, while closing off others. • Subnational social contracts. Even if a country-level social contract might be stagnant, there can be significant subnational variation and opportunities for change. A good example is Lagos, Nigeria, where, beginning in 1999, two successive governors were able to put together a reform coalition to renegotiate the social contract by producing significant improvements in transportation and sanitation, which also resulted in increased tax compliance and therefore revenue generation. As members of opposition parties facing hostility from the center, their political survival depended on delivering on popular demands. • Sectoral or policy-level opportunities. Certain policy areas will have their own social contract dynamics and may be amenable to renegotiation. These sector-specific social contracts can, in turn, influence other aspects of the broader social contract. The study commissioned country experts to undertake analyses of the evolution of the social contract in six countries: Cameroon, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Somalia, and South Africa. These case studies illustrate different aspects of the social contract, and also highlight the path-dependency of prevailing contracts, but also moments of change and reform. Outlined below are summaries of the country studies and how they relate to the social contract framework.
Cameroon: Lack of Responsiveness in the Social Contract Understanding the multifaceted challenges in Cameroon (Fisiy 2019) requires considering many of the structural features that are common to the social contract in Africa. These features include Cameroon’s colonial history, the linguistic bifurcation of the country, and the incomplete unification following independence in 1972 that allowed separation aspirations to linger. Other features that have shaped the current social contract in Cameroon and the pressures upon
