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 -