Lankina, Tomila V. 
ORCID: 0000-0002-8303-1747 and Getachew, Lullit
(2012)
Mission or empire, word or sword?: the human capital legacy in postcolonial democratic development.
American Journal of Political Science, 56 (2).
pp. 465-483.
ISSN 0092-5853
Abstract
Why are some former colonies more democratic than others? The British Empire has been singled out in the debates on colonialism for its benign influence on democracy. Much of this scholarship has focused on colonialism's institutional legacies; has neglected to distinguish among the actors associated with colonialism; and has been nation-state focused. Our subnational approach allows us to isolate the democracy effects of key actors operating in colonial domains—Christian missionaries—from those of colonial powers. Missionaries influenced democracy by promoting education; education promoted social inclusivity and spurred social reform movements. To make our case, we constructed colonial and postcolonial period district datasets of India and conducted panel analysis of literacy and democracy variations backed by case studies. The findings challenge the conventional wisdom of the centrality of the effects of British institutions on democracy, instead also highlighting the missionaries’ human capital legacies.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Official URL: | http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/%28... |
| Additional Information: | © 2012 Midwest Political Science Association |
| Divisions: | International Relations |
| Subjects: | J Political Science > JC Political theory J Political Science > JV Colonies and colonization. Emigration and immigration. International migration |
| Date Deposited: | 24 Jul 2012 10:28 |
| Last Modified: | 12 Nov 2024 09:51 |
| URI: | http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/44928 |
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