TY - JOUR
T1 - Power and Persistence
T2 - The Indigenous Roots of Representative Democracy
AU - Sinding Bentzen, Jeanet
AU - Hariri, Jacob Gerner
AU - Robinson, James A
PY - 2019/2/1
Y1 - 2019/2/1
N2 - This article documents that indigenous democratic practices are associated with contemporary representative democracy. The basic association is conditioned on the relative strength of the indigenous groups within a country; stronger groups were able to shape national regime trajectories, weaker groups were not. Our analyses suggest that institutions are more likely to persist if they are supported by powerful actors and less likely to persist if the existing power structure is disrupted by, e.g. colonisation. Our findings contribute to a growing literature on institutional persistence and change.
AB - This article documents that indigenous democratic practices are associated with contemporary representative democracy. The basic association is conditioned on the relative strength of the indigenous groups within a country; stronger groups were able to shape national regime trajectories, weaker groups were not. Our analyses suggest that institutions are more likely to persist if they are supported by powerful actors and less likely to persist if the existing power structure is disrupted by, e.g. colonisation. Our findings contribute to a growing literature on institutional persistence and change.
U2 - 10.1111/ecoj.12568
DO - 10.1111/ecoj.12568
M3 - Journal article
VL - 129
SP - 678
EP - 714
JO - The Economic Journal
JF - The Economic Journal
SN - 0013-0133
IS - 618
ER -