“The Nigerian tax treaty draft would require us to make concessions which are far in advance of the terms which other lower-income countries have accepted in treaties with us.” Taxation brief for Mr. Barratt’s visit to Nigeria and meeting with the Director of Inland Revenue: December 1978,” Inland Revenue IR40/17629, National Archives, London (Hearson, 2021)[1].

Described by DiMaggio & Powell (1991) as a useful tool for understanding the politics and ceremony that pervade modern organizational life, institutional isomorphism constitutes the adaptation of institutional practice by an organization, which ultimately “promotes the success and survival of organizations” (Meyer & Rowan, 1991). Meyer and Rowan (1991) identify three processes in the construction of the isomorphism, which are: (i) the elaboration of complex relational networks; (ii) the leadership efforts of local organizations; and (iii) the degree of collective organization of the environment. Similarly, Scott (2008) refers to three pillars as typology, which provide bases of legitimacy in institutional isomorphism, namely: (a) regulative systems; (b) normative systems; and (c) cultural-cognitive systems. His approach is in equability with the trinomial classification of DiMaggio & Powell (1991) in: (1) coercive; (2) normative; and (3) mimetic isomorphism.

The aetiology of the concomitant denunciation of DTA, first between Mali and France; and second between Niger and France, published on 05 December 2023 in the joint Communiqué No. 001 of the Republic of Mali and the Republic of Niger[2] can easily be linked to: (iii) the degree of collective organization of the environment; or (c) the cultural-cognitive systems; or (3) the mimetic isomorphism within the Alliance of Sahel States (ASS)[3]. Specifically, mimetic isomorphism recognizes the influence of external cultural frameworks and is particularly present in uncertain environments. “It is a response to uncertainty,” according to DiMaggio & Powell (1991).

The iconoclastic approach adopted by Burkina-Faso, an intrepid WATAF member state, during the second quarter of 2023, brought punctuated equilibria in the path dependency of DTAs among West African countries and France. The critical junctures described by Peters, Pierre, & King, (2005) as “turbulent formative moments” are moving DTA from their stasis to new contingencies. Following what Campbell (1997) calls “institutional filtering,” commented by Blyth (2002) as “alternative narratives through which uncertain situations can be understood,” Mali and Niger set up a 90-day countdown period starting from 05 December 2023 to simply abrogate the following DTA with France.

1. The Tax Treaty between the Government of the French Republic and the Government of the Republic of Mali “to avoid double taxation and to establish rules for mutual assistance with regard to income taxes, inheritance taxes, registration duties, and stamp duties” of September 22, 1972[4].
2. The Tax Treaty between the Government of the French Republic and the Government of the Republic of Niger “to eliminate double taxation and establish rules of mutual administrative assistance in tax matters”[5].

Let us wait for the outcome of this show of strength!

Reference

Blyth, M. (2002). Great Transformations: Economic Ideas and Institutional Change in the Twentieth Century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Campbell, J. (1997). Recent trends in institutional political economy. The International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 15.

DiMaggio, P., & Powell, W. (1991). The iron cage revisited: institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields. In P. DiMaggio, & W. Powell, The New Institutionalism in Organizational Analysis (pp. 63–82). Chicago, IL: Chicago University Press.

Hearson, M. (2021). Imposing standards: the north-south dimension to global tax politics. New York: Cornell University Press.

Meyer, J., & Rowan, B. (1991). Institutionalized organization: Formal structure as myth and ceremony. In P. DiMaggio, & W. Powell, The New Institutionalism in Organizational Analysis, (pp. 41–62). Chicago, IL: Chicago University Press.

Mali and Niger nullify tax treaties with France in its campaign to de-westernize (msn.com)

Peters, B., Pierre, J., & King, D. (2005). The politics of path dependency: Political conflict in historical institutionalism. The Journal of Politics 67, 1275.

Scott, W. (2008). Institutions and Organizations,. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

---

[1] Hearson, M. (2021). Imposing standards: the north-south dimension to global tax politics. New York: Cornell University Press.

[2] https://www.lesahel.org/communique-conjoint-n001-de-la-republique-du-mali-et-de-la-republique-du-niger/ (Consulted on 06 December 2023)

[3] The Alliance of Sahel States (French: l’Alliance des États du Sahel; AES) is a mutual defense pact created among Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso on 16 September 2023. The pact was created during the 2023 Nigerien crisis. Alliance of Sahel States – Wikipedia (Consulted on 06 December 2023)

[4] Excerpt from communiqué No. 001 of the Republic of Mali and the Republic of Niger signed: for Mali, the Minister of State, Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralization, Government Spokesperson, Colonel Abdoulaye Maiga, and for the Republic of Niger, the Minister of Youth, Culture, Arts and Sports, Council Spokesperson of the National for the Protection of the Fatherland, Colonel-Major Abdourahamane Amadou.

[5] ibid

Nyatefe Wolali DOTSEVI: Tax Research Manager, WATAF Secretariat.