“We are often told, ‘Colonialism is dead.’ Let us not be deceived or even soothed by that. I say to you, colonialism is not yet dead.” With these words, President Sukarno of Indonesia (pictured) opened the Asian-African conference in Bandung, Indonesia in 1955. Gathered in the audience were the leaders from 29 African and Asian … Continue reading Why states colonize
The death of Queen Elizabeth II produced a record number of hot takes on the British Empire, most notable only for what they revealed about the ideology of the author. That of Fox news host Tucker Carlson was no exception: “When the British pulled out of India, they left behind an entire civilization, a language, … Continue reading How Colonialism Changed the World — for Better and for Worse
The origins of political divisions, for instance along center-periphery cleavages, have received scholarly attention in the studies by Lipset & Rokkan (1967), and especially by Rokkan in his subsequent analyses in the 1970s. In these explanations, the emphasis was on how modernization processes and distinct cultural characteristics (past institutions, language, etc.) shaped identity at the … Continue reading The Origins of Elite Splits
Ghana Accra Protests In February 1948, two thousand former soldiers who served in the Gold Coast Regiment in World War II (WWII) marched against the government they had defended three years ago. The veterans were incredibly well organized, coming from different regions of the country. They demanded “independence, a good living, and good pay.” When the British … Continue reading World War II Colonial Soldiers and the Demand for Independence
Network science presents researchers with an alternative framework for analyzing societies and their economies. By recognizing that societies have the properties of multilevel systems, and that as systems, their structural designs evolve through the interdependence of the micro and macro levels, it is possible to map patterns and explain how the large sudden shocks to … Continue reading Disruptive Innovation in the Economic Organization of China and the West
Why is state capacity weaker in the Global South than in the West? In my new book Pawned States: State Building in the Era of International Finance (Princeton University Press 2022) I argue that early access to external public credit in the first globalization of international capital derailed state capacity building in the Global South. … Continue reading Foreign Loans and State Weakening
Ancient China was characterized by a feudalism strikingly similar to what we find in medieval Europe. In both places, feudalism was used as a form of government based on a fragmentation and privatization of political power. Well, upon closer inspection China was not feudal after all. But then, neither was Europe. Feudalism had to be … Continue reading The Problem of History Revisited
By Andrej Kokkonen & Anders Sundell "In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes” wrote Benjamin Franklin. Taxes have certainly received considerable attention in the study of historical political economy. War made the state, states made war, and to make war, states need money. But Franklin’s other certainty, death, … Continue reading How Medieval and Early Modern Monarchies Cheated Death
In most modern states, public administrations are organized in a pyramidal structure. National territories are divided into provinces, regions, or states, which are themselves subdivided into smaller and smaller administrative units, as in a game of nesting dolls. At these lower levels of administration, citizens can often expect to obtain all types of public services … Continue reading How Radical Administrative Reforms Unfold: Evidence from France’s “Rotating Capitals”
Campaign appearances are one of the most common strategies in electoral races. Personal visits and mass rallies appear to be particularly important for populist politicians, allowing them to display closeness to the ordinary people. However, before the turn of the 19th century, candidates rarely reached out to voters personally. The US presidential election of 1896 … Continue reading Do Local Campaign Visits by a Populist Politician Matter in Elections?