Work

Elite Identity and Political Accountability: A Tale of Ten Islands

Year: 2016

Type: report

Abstract: Emancipation of slaves in the 1830s transformed the political elites of the British-Caribbean plantation islands.New elites were more accountable to the citizenry.We develop a theory in which two factors limit and possibly reverse the effect of this on political outcomes, with legislators (i) 'stepping up to pass extractive policies and/or (ii) weakening democratic institutions.The theory is supported by an historical analysis of ten Caribbean plantation islands, based on original archival data on legislator race, occupation and roll-call voting.Eventually, all assemblies that experienced a significant change in composition dissolved themselves and converted to British 'Crown Rule'.

Source: National Bureau of Economic Research

DOI: 10.3386/w22777

Authors: Jean-Paul Carvalho, Christian Dippel

Institutions: University of California, Irvine, University of California, Los Angeles

Language: English

Topic: Caribbean history, culture, and politics

Subfield: Cultural Studies

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Peace, justice, and strong institutions

Open Access status: green

OpenAlex ID: W2540186136

Cites: 119

Cited by: 15

Related to: 10