Alexander Mitchell Lee
Biographic Data
| ID | 9350873 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Alexander Mitchell Lee |
| GIVEN NAMES | Alexander Mitchell |
| FAMILY NAME | Lee |
| SIGNATURE | LEE A M |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Rochester |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-7974-4728 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 21 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 133 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 21 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2011 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Croatian Nationalist Groups in Australia 1949-1972
Patriots or Traitors
The Kerguelen Archipelago and Australian Security Anxieties
The Kerguelen archipelago in the Southern Indian Ocean was never militarised and never posed a realistic naval threat to Australia or the British Empire during the twentieth century. However, there were two episodes, once in the Federation Era and during the Second World War, when there was debate within Australia as to whether this outlying French possession posed a threat to Australian security. By examining these periods of Australian anxiety …
The Macassan–Aboriginal relationship and the Commonwealth of Australia 1901–1906
Nickel and the 1940 New Caledonia Coup
Australia and the Allies risked conflict with Vichy France to secure New Caledonia’s nickel and preserve the Allies’ monopoly control of that strategic metal. Nickel was a key wartime resource that the Axis powers had no easy way to produce or purchase at scale. After the fall of France there was a window of opportunity for the Axis powers to acquire immense quantities of nickel from the island of New Caledonia in the South Pacific. Such an outco…
Avoiding Japanese Intervention in New Caledonia
In June and July 1940, Australia feared that a dispute over New Caledonia could spark open conflict between the British Empire and Japan. New Caledonia’s endowment of resources, particularly nickel, made it an important supplier of strategic metals to Japan and gave Tokyo a legitimate stake in the future of the archipelago. Canberra, in partnership with London, recognized the danger of Japan’s access to the archipelago’s resources but did not wan…
Biting the ‘cherry of detachment’
The British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) was created in 1965 to secure a range of Indian Ocean islands for United States and United Kingdom military use. However, despite being situated in the centre of this new Territory, the twin islands of North and South Agaléga were curiously excluded. In light of India’s modern military development of Agaléga, this article examines why British and American planners in 1965 passed over these islands, citing…
The Portuguese Empire
Australia’s strategic interests from 1961–1972 were forwarded by the late Portuguese Empire. Portugal and Australia shared a similar problem: both feared the consequences of decolonisation. Portugal was forthright in this stance, attracting much of the world’s ire that could have been directed at Australia. Lisbon routinely stated that Australian and Portuguese interests were in such tight alignment that they were natural partners. Canberra priva…
Protecting Australia's soft underbelly
Looming war with Germany and Japan led Australia frantically to prepare its home defences. The industrial Illawarra region, in the south of New South Wales, represented a target of national significance that was ill prepared to resist an Axis attack. This article considers why Australia’s government was so fearful of an attack in this location, and how it responded to the threat. It links to the emerging scholarship on Australia’s home defences, …
What the Boers Did Australia Can Do, and Do Ten Times Better’
The Boer Republics of the South African Republic (Transvaal) and Orange Free State influenced Australian defence policy before the First World War. Despite the demise of the Boer Republics at the hands of the British Empire, and the participation of Australia in their defeat, Australian parliamentarians explicitly advocated replicating Boer-style concept of citizen-soldiers to counter an attack on the Commonwealth. The Second Anglo-Boer War (1899…
Consequences of failure
Australia’s wartime security was imperilled by the failure of the Franco-British union. The proposal to merge the British and French Empires into a supra-national entity became a short-lived possibility in June 1940. This article examines why Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies unconditionally endorsed the idea. Examining the proposal, and French territories surrounding Australia, demonstrates why Australia was invested in a continued French…
Does Affirmative Action Worsen Bureaucratic Performance? Evidence from the Indian Administrative Service
Although many countries recruit bureaucrats using affirmative action, the effect of affirmative action recruits on bureaucratic performance has rarely been examined. Some worry that affirmative action worsens bureaucratic performance by diminishing the quality of recruits, whereas others posit that it improves performance by making recruits more representative of and responsive to the population. We test for these possibilities using unusually de…
Conservatives Divided
Understanding the conflict between pro‐ and anti‐Rhodesian government parliamentarians is the only way to understand how and why Australia struggled to formulate a coherent Rhodesia policy. It reveals the extent to which Malcolm Fraser had to struggle against his own party in this matter and adds needed nuance to this period. Fraser's opinion that Rhodesia was a racist and immoral project caused a schism in the Coalition parties. Despite Fraser's…
Incumbency, Parties, and Legislatures
Incumbent legislators in some developing countries are often thought to face an electoral disadvantage relative to challengers. This article traces this effect to high levels of centralization within the political parties and governments of these countries. In political systems dominated by party leaders, legislators face substantial formal and informal constraints on their ability to influence policy, stake positions, and control patronage, whic…
Do Gender Quotas Hurt Less Privileged Groups? Evidence from India
How do political gender quotas affect representation? We suggest that when gender attitudes are correlated with ethnicity, promoting female politicians may reduce the descriptive representation of traditionally disadvantaged ethnic groups. To assess this idea, we examine the consequences of the implementation of random electoral quotas for women on the representation of caste groups in Delhi. Constituencies reserved for women are less likely than…
The Origins of Ethnic Activism
Existing accounts of ethnic mobilization have focused on the role of group size or state policy. This paper suggests that narrow identity activism was also non-linearly related to education since poorly-educated groups are unlikely to have an educated elite to participate in activism, while in very educated groups this elite existed but participated in the colonial state or anti-colonial nationalism. This theory is tested using a historical panel…
Path Dependence in European Development
During the Middle Ages, most European polities operated under a norm that gave only the close male relatives of a monarch a privileged place in the order of succession. When no such heirs were available, succession disputes were more likely, with distant relatives and female(-line) heirs laying competing claims to the throne. These disputes often produced conflicts that destroyed existing institutions and harmed subsequent economic development. A…
What Were the Consequences of Decolonization
Extensive research suggests that European rule negatively affected political and economic development in their colonies. But did outcomes improve after colonial rule ended? Studying post–World War II independence cases, we statistically examine consequences of postwar decolonization—which includes both colonial autonomy and independence—for democracy, internal conflict, government revenue growth, and economic growth using two-way fixed-effects mo…
Land, State Capacity, and Colonialism
Many authors have argued that colonial institutions influenced contemporary economic outcomes by influencing levels of economic inequality and political conflict. Such accounts neglect an additional important mechanism, differences in state capacity. These two mechanisms of colonial persistence are examined in the context of India, where colonial land tenure arrangements are widely thought to influence contemporary outcomes through class conflict…
Local Embeddedness and Bureaucratic Performance
While locally embedded bureaucrats may be more willing and able to enhance public goods provisioning in the places that they serve, they may also be more likely to be captured by elite interests. We reconcile these two viewpoints by arguing that locally embedded bureaucrats enhance public goods provisioning when they can be held accountable by the public. We test this theory using data from India, examining how changes in public goods provision w…
Who Becomes a Terrorist
Many studies of the social backgrounds of terrorists have found that they are wealthier and better educated than the population from which they are drawn. However, studies of political behavior have shown that all forms of political involvement are correlated with socioeconomic status. among those who are politically active, opportunity costs may lead those involved in nonviolent activities to have a higher social status than violent individuals …
Local Embeddedness and Bureaucratic Performance
While locally embedded bureaucrats may be more willing and able to enhance public goods provisioning in the places that they serve, they may also be more likely to be captured by elite interests. We reconcile these two viewpoints by arguing that locally embedded bureaucrats enhance public goods provisioning when they can be held accountable by the public. We test this theory using data from India, examining how changes in public goods provision w…
Who Becomes a Terrorist
Many studies of the social backgrounds of terrorists have found that they are wealthier and better educated than the population from which they are drawn. However, studies of political behavior have shown that all forms of political involvement are correlated with socioeconomic status. among those who are politically active, opportunity costs may lead those involved in nonviolent activities to have a higher social status than violent individuals …
Path Dependence in European Development
During the Middle Ages, most European polities operated under a norm that gave only the close male relatives of a monarch a privileged place in the order of succession. When no such heirs were available, succession disputes were more likely, with distant relatives and female(-line) heirs laying competing claims to the throne. These disputes often produced conflicts that destroyed existing institutions and harmed subsequent economic development. A…
Do Gender Quotas Hurt Less Privileged Groups? Evidence from India
How do political gender quotas affect representation? We suggest that when gender attitudes are correlated with ethnicity, promoting female politicians may reduce the descriptive representation of traditionally disadvantaged ethnic groups. To assess this idea, we examine the consequences of the implementation of random electoral quotas for women on the representation of caste groups in Delhi. Constituencies reserved for women are less likely than…
Land, State Capacity, and Colonialism
Many authors have argued that colonial institutions influenced contemporary economic outcomes by influencing levels of economic inequality and political conflict. Such accounts neglect an additional important mechanism, differences in state capacity. These two mechanisms of colonial persistence are examined in the context of India, where colonial land tenure arrangements are widely thought to influence contemporary outcomes through class conflict…
Does Affirmative Action Worsen Bureaucratic Performance? Evidence from the Indian Administrative Service
Although many countries recruit bureaucrats using affirmative action, the effect of affirmative action recruits on bureaucratic performance has rarely been examined. Some worry that affirmative action worsens bureaucratic performance by diminishing the quality of recruits, whereas others posit that it improves performance by making recruits more representative of and responsive to the population. We test for these possibilities using unusually de…
Incumbency, Parties, and Legislatures
Incumbent legislators in some developing countries are often thought to face an electoral disadvantage relative to challengers. This article traces this effect to high levels of centralization within the political parties and governments of these countries. In political systems dominated by party leaders, legislators face substantial formal and informal constraints on their ability to influence policy, stake positions, and control patronage, whic…
What Were the Consequences of Decolonization
Extensive research suggests that European rule negatively affected political and economic development in their colonies. But did outcomes improve after colonial rule ended? Studying post–World War II independence cases, we statistically examine consequences of postwar decolonization—which includes both colonial autonomy and independence—for democracy, internal conflict, government revenue growth, and economic growth using two-way fixed-effects mo…
Who Becomes a Terrorist
Many studies of the social backgrounds of terrorists have found that they are wealthier and better educated than the population from which they are drawn. However, studies of political behavior have shown that all forms of political involvement are correlated with socioeconomic status. among those who are politically active, opportunity costs may lead those involved in nonviolent activities to have a higher social status than violent individuals …
Local Embeddedness and Bureaucratic Performance
While locally embedded bureaucrats may be more willing and able to enhance public goods provisioning in the places that they serve, they may also be more likely to be captured by elite interests. We reconcile these two viewpoints by arguing that locally embedded bureaucrats enhance public goods provisioning when they can be held accountable by the public. We test this theory using data from India, examining how changes in public goods provision w…
The Origins of Ethnic Activism
Existing accounts of ethnic mobilization have focused on the role of group size or state policy. This paper suggests that narrow identity activism was also non-linearly related to education since poorly-educated groups are unlikely to have an educated elite to participate in activism, while in very educated groups this elite existed but participated in the colonial state or anti-colonial nationalism. This theory is tested using a historical panel…
Path Dependence in European Development
During the Middle Ages, most European polities operated under a norm that gave only the close male relatives of a monarch a privileged place in the order of succession. When no such heirs were available, succession disputes were more likely, with distant relatives and female(-line) heirs laying competing claims to the throne. These disputes often produced conflicts that destroyed existing institutions and harmed subsequent economic development. A…
What Were the Consequences of Decolonization
Extensive research suggests that European rule negatively affected political and economic development in their colonies. But did outcomes improve after colonial rule ended? Studying post–World War II independence cases, we statistically examine consequences of postwar decolonization—which includes both colonial autonomy and independence—for democracy, internal conflict, government revenue growth, and economic growth using two-way fixed-effects mo…
Land, State Capacity, and Colonialism
Many authors have argued that colonial institutions influenced contemporary economic outcomes by influencing levels of economic inequality and political conflict. Such accounts neglect an additional important mechanism, differences in state capacity. These two mechanisms of colonial persistence are examined in the context of India, where colonial land tenure arrangements are widely thought to influence contemporary outcomes through class conflict…
Conservatives Divided
Understanding the conflict between pro‐ and anti‐Rhodesian government parliamentarians is the only way to understand how and why Australia struggled to formulate a coherent Rhodesia policy. It reveals the extent to which Malcolm Fraser had to struggle against his own party in this matter and adds needed nuance to this period. Fraser's opinion that Rhodesia was a racist and immoral project caused a schism in the Coalition parties. Despite Fraser's…
Incumbency, Parties, and Legislatures
Incumbent legislators in some developing countries are often thought to face an electoral disadvantage relative to challengers. This article traces this effect to high levels of centralization within the political parties and governments of these countries. In political systems dominated by party leaders, legislators face substantial formal and informal constraints on their ability to influence policy, stake positions, and control patronage, whic…
Do Gender Quotas Hurt Less Privileged Groups? Evidence from India
How do political gender quotas affect representation? We suggest that when gender attitudes are correlated with ethnicity, promoting female politicians may reduce the descriptive representation of traditionally disadvantaged ethnic groups. To assess this idea, we examine the consequences of the implementation of random electoral quotas for women on the representation of caste groups in Delhi. Constituencies reserved for women are less likely than…
The Portuguese Empire
Australia’s strategic interests from 1961–1972 were forwarded by the late Portuguese Empire. Portugal and Australia shared a similar problem: both feared the consequences of decolonisation. Portugal was forthright in this stance, attracting much of the world’s ire that could have been directed at Australia. Lisbon routinely stated that Australian and Portuguese interests were in such tight alignment that they were natural partners. Canberra priva…
Protecting Australia's soft underbelly
Looming war with Germany and Japan led Australia frantically to prepare its home defences. The industrial Illawarra region, in the south of New South Wales, represented a target of national significance that was ill prepared to resist an Axis attack. This article considers why Australia’s government was so fearful of an attack in this location, and how it responded to the threat. It links to the emerging scholarship on Australia’s home defences, …
What the Boers Did Australia Can Do, and Do Ten Times Better’
The Boer Republics of the South African Republic (Transvaal) and Orange Free State influenced Australian defence policy before the First World War. Despite the demise of the Boer Republics at the hands of the British Empire, and the participation of Australia in their defeat, Australian parliamentarians explicitly advocated replicating Boer-style concept of citizen-soldiers to counter an attack on the Commonwealth. The Second Anglo-Boer War (1899…
Consequences of failure
Australia’s wartime security was imperilled by the failure of the Franco-British union. The proposal to merge the British and French Empires into a supra-national entity became a short-lived possibility in June 1940. This article examines why Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies unconditionally endorsed the idea. Examining the proposal, and French territories surrounding Australia, demonstrates why Australia was invested in a continued French…
Does Affirmative Action Worsen Bureaucratic Performance? Evidence from the Indian Administrative Service
Although many countries recruit bureaucrats using affirmative action, the effect of affirmative action recruits on bureaucratic performance has rarely been examined. Some worry that affirmative action worsens bureaucratic performance by diminishing the quality of recruits, whereas others posit that it improves performance by making recruits more representative of and responsive to the population. We test for these possibilities using unusually de…
Biting the ‘cherry of detachment’
The British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) was created in 1965 to secure a range of Indian Ocean islands for United States and United Kingdom military use. However, despite being situated in the centre of this new Territory, the twin islands of North and South Agaléga were curiously excluded. In light of India’s modern military development of Agaléga, this article examines why British and American planners in 1965 passed over these islands, citing…
Nickel and the 1940 New Caledonia Coup
Australia and the Allies risked conflict with Vichy France to secure New Caledonia’s nickel and preserve the Allies’ monopoly control of that strategic metal. Nickel was a key wartime resource that the Axis powers had no easy way to produce or purchase at scale. After the fall of France there was a window of opportunity for the Axis powers to acquire immense quantities of nickel from the island of New Caledonia in the South Pacific. Such an outco…
Avoiding Japanese Intervention in New Caledonia
In June and July 1940, Australia feared that a dispute over New Caledonia could spark open conflict between the British Empire and Japan. New Caledonia’s endowment of resources, particularly nickel, made it an important supplier of strategic metals to Japan and gave Tokyo a legitimate stake in the future of the archipelago. Canberra, in partnership with London, recognized the danger of Japan’s access to the archipelago’s resources but did not wan…
The Kerguelen Archipelago and Australian Security Anxieties
The Kerguelen archipelago in the Southern Indian Ocean was never militarised and never posed a realistic naval threat to Australia or the British Empire during the twentieth century. However, there were two episodes, once in the Federation Era and during the Second World War, when there was debate within Australia as to whether this outlying French possession posed a threat to Australian security. By examining these periods of Australian anxiety …
The Macassan–Aboriginal relationship and the Commonwealth of Australia 1901–1906
Croatian Nationalist Groups in Australia 1949-1972
Patriots or Traitors
Political science (18 works) · Law (16 works) · Politics (13 works) · Law (12 works) · Economics (11 works) · Sociology (11 works) · History (10 works) · Political economy (8 works) · Australian History and Society (7 works) · History (7 works)