Research
Book
Martha Wilfahrt. 2021. Precolonial Legacies in Postcolonial Politics: Representation and Redistribution in Decentralized West Africa. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press (Cambridge Studies in Comparative Politics)
Allan Sharlin Memorial Book Award, Social Science History Association, 2022
QMMR Sartori Best Book Award, Honorable Mention, 2022
Long-Listed for the Luebbert Best Book Award, 2022
Reviewed in African Studies Review, Governance, The Journal of Development Studies, Perspectives on Politics, Publius: The Journal of Federalism
Journal Articles
Natalie Letsa and Martha Wilfahrt. Forthcoming. Colonial Legacies, Collective Efficacy, and Rural Development: Evidence from the Togo-Ghana Border (Comparative Political Studies)
Leonardo Arriola, Dominika Koter and Martha Wilfahrt. Forthcoming. Unspoken Hierarchies: The Enduring Effects of Caste Discrimination in Africa Perspectives on Politics.
Martha Wilfahrt. 2026. A Precolonial Paradox: Rethinking Political Centralization and Its Legacies American Political Science Review 120(2), pp. 419-438.
Justine Davis and Martha Wilfahrt. 2026. Understanding the Sensitivity of Party Identification Questions in Polarized African Contexts (with Justine Davis) Political Behavior 48, pp. 997-1022.
Natalie Letsa and Martha Wilfahrt. 2023. Judge, Landlord, Broker, Watchman: Assessing Variation in Chiefly Duties in the Ghana-Togo Borderlands Journal of Modern African Studies, 61(3), pp. 439-62.
Justine Davis and Martha Wilfahrt. 2023. Enumerator Experiences in Survey Data Collection in Sub-Saharan Africa Comparative Political Studies 57(4), pp. 675-709.
- Winner of the African Politics Conference Group Best Paper Award 2024
Kathleen Klaus, Jeffrey Paller and Martha Wilfahrt. 2023. Demanding Recognition: Citizen Perspectives on Clientelism in Africa African Affairs 122(487), pp. 185-203.
Martha Wilfahrt. 2022. Citizen response to local service provision: Emerging democratic accountability in decentralized West Africa? Electoral Studies 79.
Kristin Michelitch and Martha Wilfahrt. 2022. Improving Open-Source Information on African Politics PS: Politics and Society 55(2), pp. 450-455.
Natalie Letsa and Martha Wilfahrt. 2020. The Mechanisms of Direct and Indirect Rule: Colonialism and Economic Development in Africa Quarterly Journal of Political Science 15(4), pp. 539-577.
Martha Wilfahrt. 2018. Precolonial Legacies and Institutional Congruence in Public Goods Delivery: Evidence from Decentralized West Africa. World Politics 70(2), pp. 239-274.
Martha Wilfahrt. 2018. The Politics of Local Government Performance: Elite Cohesion and Cross-Village Constraints in Decentralized Senegal. World Development, 103, pp. 149-61.
Natalie Letsa and Martha Wilfahrt. 2018. Popular Support for Democracy in Autocratic Regimes: A Micro-Level Analysis of Preferences Comparative Politics, 50(2), pp. 231-73.
Working Papers
The Political Effects of Caste in Senegal (with Leonardo Arriola and Dominika Koter)
Guns, Garrisons, and Growth: Revisiting State Formation in Africa (with Leonardo Arriola, Igor Kolesnikov & Yosef Tadesse)
In Progress
The Origins of Opposition Strongholds (with Natalie Letsa)
Indigenous Slavery and Long-Run Inequality in Africa
Endogenous Decentralization? The Politics of Subnational Boundary Creation
Book Project: Tropical Subjects: Ethnographies of Experimentation