Traditional Chiefs and Local Taxation in Sierra Leone

In many post-colonial contexts, traditional leaders remain enduring sources of local authority, often operating alongside—or in tension with—formal state institutions. Yet we know little about when collaboration between these parallel elites emerges, and how such hybrid arrangements shape statebuilding. This paper examines the political foundations and consequences of cooperation between traditional and state leaders in Sierra Leone, focusing on their role in supporting or undermining local taxation and development. Using a mixed-methods research design that combines elite survey experiments with paramount chiefs and local councillors, a comparative mapping of 190 chiefdoms, and qualitative interviews, we identify how political alignment, fiscal autonomy, and electoral dependence structure incentives for collaboration. The findings contribute to comparative debates on political authority, elite bargains, and hybrid governance by showing how collaboration can simultaneously enhance state capacity and reproduce non-state power.