Decentralized Despotism? Indirect Colonial Rule Undermines Contemporary Democratic Attitudes

Lechler, Marie and McNamee, Lachlan (8. March 2017): Decentralized Despotism? Indirect Colonial Rule Undermines Contemporary Democratic Attitudes. Discussion Papers in Economics 2017-7

Abstract

This paper identifies indirect and direct colonial rule as causal factors in shaping support for democracy by exploiting a within-country natural experiment in Namibia. Throughout the colonial era, northern Namibia was indirectly ruled through a system of appointed indigenous traditional elites whereas colonial authorities directly ruled southern Namibia. This variation originally stems from where the progressive extension of direct German control was stopped after a rinderpest epidemic in the 1890s, and thus constitutes plausibly exogenous within-country variation in the form of colonial rule. Using this spatial discontinuity, we find that individuals in indirectly ruled areas are less likely to support democracy and turnout at elections. We explore potential mechanisms and find suggestive evidence that the greater influence of traditional leaders in indirectly ruled areas has socialized individuals to accept non-electoral bases of political authority.

• Item Type: Paper
• Keywords: Indirect Colonial Rule, Decentralized Despotism, Political Attitudes, Namibia, Democratic Institutions, Spatial RDD
• Faculties: Economics; Economics > Munich Discussion Papers in Economics; Economics > Munich Discussion Papers in Economics > Development Economics
• Subjects: 300 Social sciences > 330 Economics
• JEL Classification: F54,, N27,, N47,, P16
• Language: English

References

Acemoglu, D., Johnson, S., and Robinson, J. A. (2001). The Colonial Origins of Comparative Development: An Empirical Investigation. American Economic Review, 91(5):1369–1401.

Acemoglu, D., Johnson, S., and Robinson, J. A. (2002). Reversal of Fortune: Geography and Institutions in the Making of the Modern World Income Distribution. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 117(4):1231–1294.

Acemoglu, D., Reed, T., and Robinson, J. A. (2014). Chiefs: Economic development and elite control of civil society in Sierra Leone. Journal of Political Economy, 122(2):319–368.

Afrobarometer (1999, 2003, 2005, 2008). Afrobarometer Data Namibia, Rounds 1-4. http://www.afrobarometer.org.

Almond, G. A. and Verba, S. (1963). The Civic Culture: Political Attitudes and Democracy in Five Nations. Princeton University Press, Princeton.

Angrist, J. D. and Pischke, J.-S. (2008). Mostly harmless econometrics: An empiricist’s companion. Princeton University Press.

Baldwin, K. (2014). When politicians cede control of resources: Land, chiefs, and coalitionbuilding in Africa. Comparative Politics, 46(3):253–271.

Baldwin, K. (2015). The Paradox of Traditional Chiefs in Democratic Africa. Cambridge University Press.

Baldwin, K. and Mvukiyehe, E. (2015). Elections and collective action: Evidence from changes in traditional institutions in liberia. World Politics, 67(04):690–725.

Bratton, M. (2004). The" Alternation Effect" in Africa. Journal of Democracy, 15(4):147–158.

Bratton, M., Mattes, R. B., and Gyimah-Boadi, E. (2005). Public opinion, democracy, and market reform in Africa. Cambridge University Press.

de Aquino, J. A. (2015). The effect of exposure to political institutions and economic events on demand for democracy in africa. Afrobarometer Working Paper No. 160.

De Kadt, D. (2017). Voting then, voting now: The long term consequences of participation in south africa’s first democratic election. The Journal of Politics.

De Kadt, D. and Larreguy, H. (2014). Agents of the Regime: Traditional Leaders and Electoral Behavior in South Africa. Paper presented at APSA meeting 2014.

Dell, M. (2010). The persistent effects of peru’s mining mita. Econometrica, 78(6):1863–1903.

Dell, M., Lane, N., and Querubin, P. (2015). State Capacity, Local Governance, and Economic Development in Vietnam.

Düsing, S. (2002). Traditional Leadership and Democratisation in Southern Africa: A Comparative Study of Botswana, Namibia, and Southern Africa, volume 6. LIT Verlag Münster.

Eckl, A. (2007). Reports from ’beyond the line’: The accumulation of knowledge of Kavango and its peoples by the German colonial administration 1891-1911. Journal of Namibian Studies: History Politics Culture, 1:7–37.

Eirola, M. (1992). The Ovambogefahr: The Ovamboland Reservation in the Making: Political Responses of the Kingdom of Ondonga to the German Colonial Power, 1884-1910, volume 22.

Ponjois-Suomen Historiallinen Yhdistys. Engerman, S. L. and Sokoloff, K. L. (2002). Factor Endowments, Inequality, and Paths of Development among New World Economies. Economia Journal of the Latin American and Caribean Economic Association.

Englebert, P. (2000). State Legitimacy and Development in Africa. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers.

Friedman, J. T. (2006). Making politics, making history: Chiefship and the post-apartheid state in namibia. Journal of Southern African Studies.

Fuchs-Schündeln, N. and Schündeln, M. (2015). On the endogeneity of political preferences: Evidence from individual experience with democracy. Science, 347(6226):1145–1148.

Gelman, A. and Imbens, G. W. (2014). Why high-order polynomials should not be used in regression discontinuity designs. NBER Working Paper, (w20405).

German Colonial Office, B. (1919). The Treatment of Native and Other Populations in the Colonial Possessions of Germany and England: An Answer to the English Blue Book of August 1918: ’Report on the Natives of South-West Africa and Their Treatment by Germany’.Engelmann.

Gerring, J., Ziblatt, D., Gorp, J. V., and Arévalo, J. (2011). An institutional theory of direct and indirect rule. World Politics, 63(9):377–433.

Hariri, J. G. (2012). The Autocratic Legacy of Early Statehood. American Political Science Review, pages 471–494.

Inglehart, R. (1990). Culture shift in advanced industrial society. Princeton University Press.

Inglehart, R. and Welzel, C. (2005). Modernization, cultural change, and democracy: The human development sequence. Cambridge University Press.

Iyer, L. (2010). Direct versus indirect colonial rule in india: Long-term consequences. The Review of Economics and Statistics, 92(4):693–713.

Keulder, C. (2000). Traditional leaders. State, Society and Democracy. A Reader in Namibian Politics, pages 150–170.

Lange, M. (2004). British colonial legacies and political development. World Development, 32(6):905–22.

Logan, C. (2008). Traditional leaders in modern africa: Can democracy and the chief co-exist? Michigan State University, Afrobarometer Working Paper No. 93.

Logan, C. (2009). Selected chiefs, elected councilors, and hybrid democrats: Popular perspectives on the co-existence of democracy and traditional authority. Journal of Modern African Studies, 47(1):101–128.

Logan, C. (2013). The roots of resilience: Exploring popular support for african traditional,authorities. African Affairs, 112(448):353–37.

Luthuli, A. J. (1962). Africa and Freedom. Africa Today, 9(1):7–9.

Mamdani, M. (1996). Citizen and Subject: Contemporary Africa and the Legacy of Late Colonialism. Princeton University Press.

Mboya, T. (1956). The Kenya Question: an African Answer. Number Nr. 302 in Fabian tract. Fabian Colonial Bureau.

McNamee, L. (2016). Indirect colonial rule and the political salience of ethnicity. Technical report, Afrobarometer working paper no. 169.

Meer, T. and Campbell, C. (2007). Traditional leadership in democratic South Africa. Durban and Cape Town: Democracy Development Program. Melber, H. (1996). Urbanisation and internal migration: Regional dimensions in post-colonial Namibia. Namibian Economic Policy Research Unit.

Melber, H. (2015). Understanding Namibia: The Trials of Independence. Oxford University Press.

Mendelsohn, J. (2002). Atlas of Namibia: A Portrait of the Land and its People. New Africa Books Pty Ltd.

Miescher, G. (2012). Namibia’s Red Line: The History of a Veterinary and Settlement Border. Palgrave Macmillan.

Miguel, E. (2004). Tribe or nation? Nation building and public goods in Kenya versus Tanzania. World Politics, 56(03):328–362.

Moorsom, R. (1977). Underdevelopment, contract labour and worker consciousness in Namibia, 1915–72. Journal of Southern African Studies, 4(1):52–87.

Murdock, G. P. (1967). Ethnographic atlas. Ethnology, pages 109–236.

Namibia Statistics Agency (2011). Namibia 2011: Population and Housing Census Main Report. Namibia Statistics Agency, Windhoek, Namibia.

Newbury, C. (1988). The Cohesion of Oppression: clientship and ethnicity in Rwanda, 1860- 1960. Columbia University Press.

Ntsebeza, L. (2005). Democracy Compromised: Chiefs and the Politics of the Land in South Africa. Brill, Leiden.

Odendaal, C. (1964). Report of the Commission of Enquiry into South West Africa Affairs, 1962-1963. Pretoria, Republic of South Africa. Ofcansky, T. P. (1981). The 1889-1897 Rinderpest Epidemic and the Rise of British and German Colonialism in Eastern and Southern Africa. Journal of African Studies, 8(1):31–38.

Paul, J. (1933). Wirtschaft und Besiedlung im südlichen Amboland von Johannes Paul. Veröffentlichungen, Wissenschaftliche, des Museums für Völkerkunde zu Leipzig. Vertriebsstelle: Ferdinand Hirt & Sohn, Leipzig.

Persson, T. and Tabellini, G. (2009). Democratic Capital: The Nexus of Political and Economic Change. American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, 1(2):88–126.

Putnam, R. D. (1994). Making democracy work: Civic traditions in modern Italy. Princeton University Press.

Ribot, J. (2001). Local actors, powers and accountability in african decentralizations: A review of issues. United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD), October.

Roberts, B., Struwig, J., and Gordon, S. (2014). Iec voter participation survey 2013/14. Technical report, Human Sciences Research Council: Pretoria.

Werner, W. and Odendaal, W. (2010). Livelihoods after land reform: Namibia Country Report.

Williams, J. M. (2004). Leading from behind: Democratic consolidation and the chieftaincy in south africa. Journal of Modern African Studies, 42(1):113–136.

Williams, J. M. (2010). Chieftaincy, the State and Democracy: Political Legitimacy in Post-Apartheid South Africa. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

Zimmerer, J. (2001). Deutsche Herrschaft über Afrikaner. Staatlicher Machtanspruch und Wirklichkeit im kolonialen Namibia. LIT Verlag.