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SoSe 23: Taxation in the Global South

Lukas Hakelberg

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There is no rule without revenue. Accordingly, many scholars consider taxation to be the most fundamental activity of the state. Most theories on the politics of taxation and the link between taxation and state-building, however, draw heavily on the European experience. Some researchers have therefore begun to ask whether established theories ‘travel’ to other world regions or suffer from Eurocentric myopia. This seminar engages with this body of research, providing an introduction to the literature on the politics of taxation that draws its empirical cases from the Global South. We begin with the historical evolution of tax systems across world regions, discuss the determinants of different tax structures across countries and tackle the issue of tax evasion and avoidance at the global level. Next to familiarizing students with research on tax politics in the Global South, the seminar also provides a solid introduction to the main elements of research design. To reach both goals we proceed in 4 steps. In a first step, we’ll discuss the basics of taxation and research design. In a second step, we’ll discuss the most important research on the above-mentioned issues in historical sequence, paying particular attention to the authors’ research design choices. In a third step, we reverse the research design process. Students organize in groups putting themselves in the position of the author of an important work on tax politics and developing a research proposal that could have stood at the beginning of her research endeavor. In a fourth step, students will systematically help each other in getting from our general research topic to a puzzle and research question that they can then use as starting point for a term paper or bachelor thesis. close