INNOVATIONS IN TRUST: PATRIMONIAL AND BUREAUCRATIC AUTHORITY IN THE ASANTE EMPIRE OF WEST AFRICA Nicolette D. Manglos-Weber ABSTRACT Analysts of modern-day sub-Saharan Africa have argued that its “neopa- trimonial regimes,” descending from pre-colonial polities, translate badly to the scale of the nation-state and hinder democratic accountability. In this paper, I argue by contrast that the problem with today’s failed or failing states is that they are not patrimonial enough, if we understand patrimonialism in classic Weberian terms as a system based on traditions of reciprocal interdependence between rulers and citizens, and character- ized by personal but malleable ruling networks. I make this argument by showing how the Asante Empire in the 18th and 19th centuries shifted from a working model, incorporating both patrimonial and bureaucratic forms of authority, to an exploitative one that reneged on its traditional commitments to the wider public. The cause of this shift was the Patrimonial Capitalism and Empire Political Power and Social Theory, Volume 28, 217À240 Copyright r 2015 by Emerald Group Publishing Limited All rights of reproduction in any form reserved ISSN: 0198-8719/doi:10.1108/S0198-871920150000028009 217