Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-j824f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-14T23:15:34.178Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Gaming Democracy: Elite Dominance during Transition and the Prospects for Redistribution

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 May 2013

Michael Albertus  and
Victor Menaldo
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Inequality and democracy are far more compatible empirically than social conflict theory predicts. This article speaks to this puzzle, identifying the scope conditions under which democratization induces greater redistribution. Because autocrats sometimes have incentives to expropriate economic elites, who lack reliable institutions to protect their rights, elites may prefer democracy to autocratic rule if they can impose roadblocks to redistribution under democracy ex ante. Using global panel data (1972–2008), this study finds that there is a relationship between democracy and redistribution only if elites are politically weak during a transition; for example, when there is revolutionary pressure. Redistribution is also greater if a democratic regime can avoid adopting and operating under a constitution written by outgoing elites and instead create a new constitution that redefines the political game. This finding holds across three different measures of redistribution and instrumental variables estimation. This article also documents the ways in which elites ‘bias’ democratic institutions.

Type
Articles
Information
British Journal of Political Science , Volume 44 , Issue 3 , July 2014 , pp. 575 - 603
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

Department of Political Science, University of Chicago (email: albertus@uchicago.edu); Department of Political Science, University of Washington (email: vmenaldo@u.washington.edu). Research support was provided by the Hoover Institution, where Menaldo was a National Fellow in 2009–2010, and Stanford University's Center on Development, Democracy and the Rule of Law, where Albertus was a Postdoctoral Fellow in 2011–2012. Able research assistance was provided by Jennifer Noveck. Earlier drafts of this article were presented at the 2010 American Political Science Association Annual Meeting and at Georgetown University's CRITICS workshop. We thank Jim Fearon, Steve Haber, David Laitin, Margaret Levi, Paul Musgrave, Dan Slater, Milan Slovik and Joe Wright for helpful comments on earlier drafts. An online appendix for this article containing additional statistical analyses and a discussion of sources and methods is available at http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.1017/S0007123413000124. Data and supporting materials necessary to reproduce the numerical results in the article are available at http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.1017/S0007123413000124.

References

Acemoglu, Daron Robinson, James. 2001. A Theory of Political Transitions. American Economic Review 91:938–963.Google Scholar
Acemoglu, Daron Robinson, James. 2006. Economic Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Acemoglu, Daron Robinson, James. 2008. Persistence of Power, Elites, and Institutions. American Economic Review 98:267–293.Google Scholar
Acemoglu, Daron, Ticchi, David, Vindigni, Andrea. 2007. The Emergence and Persistence of Inefficient States. Unpublished manuscript.Google Scholar
Albertus, Michael Menaldo, Victor. 2012a. If You're Against Them You're With Us: The Effect of Expropriation on Autocratic Survival. Comparative Political Studies 45:973–1003.Google Scholar
Albertus, Michael Menaldo, Victor. 2012b. Dictators as Founding Fathers? The Role of Constitutions Under Autocracy. Economics & Politics 24:279–306.Google Scholar
Alexander, Gerard. 2002. The Sources of Democratic Consolidation. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ansell, Ben Samuels, David. 2010. Inequality and Democratization. Comparative Political Studies 43:1543–1574.Google Scholar
Avelino, George, Brown, David Hunter, Wendy. 2005. The Effects of Capital Mobility, Trade Openness, and Democracy on Social Spending in Latin America, 1980–1999. American Journal of Political Science 49:625–641.Google Scholar
Banks, Arthur. 2005. Cross-national Time-series Data Archive, 1815–2003. Binghamton, NY: Center for Social Analysis, State University of New York at Binghamton.Google Scholar
Beck, Thorsten, Clarke, George, Groff, Alberto, Keefer, Philip Walsh, Patrick. 2001. The Database of Political Institutions. World Bank Economic Review 15:165–176.Google Scholar
Boix, Carles. 2003. Democracy and Redistribution. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Boix, Carles. 2010. Electoral Markets, Party Strategies, and Proportional Representation. American Political Science Review 104:404–413.Google Scholar
Cheibub, José Antonio, Gandhi, Jennifer Vreeland, James Raymond. 2009. Democracy and Dictatorship Revisited. Public Choice 143:67–101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cusack, Thomas, Iversen, Torben Soskice, David. 2007. Economic Interests and the Origins of Electoral Systems. American Political Science Review 101:373–391.Google Scholar
Dahl, Robert. 1971. Polyarchy: Participation and Opposition. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Easterly, William. 2007. Inequality does Cause Underdevelopment. Journal of Development Economics 84:755–776.Google Scholar
Eichengreen, Barry Leblang, David. 2008. Democracy and Globalization. Economics & Politics 20:289–334.Google Scholar
Elkins, Zachary, Ginsburg, Tom, Melton, James. 2010. The Comparative Constitutions Project. Available from https://comparativeconstitutionsproject.org. Accessed 24 April 2011.Google Scholar
Engerman, Stanley Sokoloff, Kenneth. 2005. The Evolution of Suffrage Institutions in the Americas. Journal of Economic History 65:891–921.Google Scholar
Freeman, John Quinn, Dennis. 2012. The Economic Origins of Democracy Reconsidered. American Political Science Review 106:58–80.Google Scholar
Gleditsch, Kristian Ward, Michael. 2006. Diffusion and the International Context of Democratization. International Organization 60:911–933.Google Scholar
Goemans, Hein Kristian, Gleditsch, Skrede Chiozza, Giacomo. 2009. Introducing Archigos: A Dataset of Political Leaders. Journal of Peace Research 46:269–283.Google Scholar
Goldstone, Jack. 1998. The Encyclopedia of Political Revolutions. Washington, DC: Congressional Quarterly.Google Scholar
Haber, Stephen Menaldo, Victor. 2011. Does Oil Fuel Authoritarianism? American Political Science Review 105:1–26.Google Scholar
Haggard, Stephan Kaufman, Robert. 2008. Development, Democracy, and Welfare States. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Haggard, Stephan Kaufman, Robert. 2012. Inequality and Regime Change: Democratic Transitions and the Stability of Democratic Rule. American Political Science Review 106:495–516.Google Scholar
Horiuchi, Yusaka. 2004. Malapportionment and Income Inequality. British Journal of Political Science 34:179–183.Google Scholar
Huber, Evelyne, Mustillo, Thomas Stephens, John. 2008. Politics and Social Spending in Latin America. Journal of Politics 70:420–436.Google Scholar
Isaacs, Anita. 1993. Military Rule and Transition in Ecuador, 1972–92. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keefer, Philip. 2007. Clientelism, Credibility, and the Policy Choices of Young Democracies. American Journal of Political Science 51:804–821.Google Scholar
Korpi, Walter. 1983. The Democratic Class Struggle. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
Lindert, Peter. 2004. Growing Public. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Lizzeri, Alessandro Persico, Nicola. 2004. Why Did the Elites Extend the Suffrage? Quarterly Journal of Economics 119:707–765.Google Scholar
Meltzer, Allan Richard, Scott. 1981. A Rational Theory of the Size of Government. Journal of Political Economy 89:914–927.Google Scholar
Negretto, Gabriel. 2006. Choosing How to Choose Presidents. Journal of Politics 68:421–433.Google Scholar
North, Douglass Weingast, Barry. 1989. Constitutions and Commitment. Journal of Economic History 49:803–832.Google Scholar
O'Donnell, Guillermo Schmitter, Philippe. 1986. Transitions from Authoritarian Rule. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Olson, Mancur. 1993. Dictatorship, Democracy, and Development. American Political Science Review 87:567–576.Google Scholar
Perotti, Roberto. 1996. Growth, Income Distribution, and Democracy: What the Data Say. Journal of Economic Growth 1:149–187.Google Scholar
Popa, Mircea. 2012. Political Leadership Time Horizons and Economic Growth. Working Paper.Google Scholar
Przeworski, Adam. 2009. Conquered or Granted? A History of Suffrage Extensions. British Journal of Political Science 29:291–321.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rajan, Raghuram. 2009. Rent Preservation and the Persistence of Underdevelopment. American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics 1:178–218.Google Scholar
Rokkan, Stein. 1970. Citizens, Elections, Parties. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.Google Scholar
Ross, Michael. 2006. Is Democracy Good for the Poor? American Journal of Political Science 50:860–874.Google Scholar
Rueschemeyer, Dietrich, Stephens, Evelyn Stephens, John. 1992. Capitalist Development and Democracy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Shah, Anwar Whalley, John. 1991. Tax Analysis of Developing Countries: An Alternative View. World Bank Economic Review 5:535–552.Google Scholar
Scheve, Kenneth Stasavage, David. 2011. Democracy, War, and Wealth: Evidence from Two Centuries of Inheritance Taxation. American Political Science Review 106:81–102.Google Scholar
Snyder, Anita Kramer, Gerald. 1988. Fairness, Self-interest, and the Politics of the Progressive Income Tax. Journal of Public Economics 36:197–230.Google Scholar
Stepan, Alfred. 1971. The Military in Politics. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Stephens, John. 1979. The Transition from Capitalism to Socialism. London: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Timmons, Jeffrey. 2005. The Fiscal Contract: States, Taxes, and Public Services. World Politics 57:530–567.Google Scholar
Winters, Jeffrey. 2011. Oligarchy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Wood, Elisabeth. 2000. Forging Democracy from Below. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Ziblatt, Daniel. 2006. How Did Europe Democratize? World Politics 58:311–338.Google Scholar
Ziblatt, Daniel. 2009. Shaping Democratic Practice and the Causes of Electoral Fraud. American Political Science Review 103:1–21.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: PDF

Albertus Supplementary Material

Appendix

Download Albertus Supplementary Material(PDF)
PDF 1.4 MB