Persistence or Reversal of Fortune? Early State Inheritance and the Legacies of Colonial Rule
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2317376 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Roberto S Foa (0000-0001-8867-7566, The University of Melbourne, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2017 |
| Volume | 45 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 301-324 |
| Publication date | 2017-06-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Latin American Politics and Society (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1531-426X • E-ISSN: 1548-2456 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032329217704431 |
| OpenAlex | W2615963085 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 8 |
This article assesses the relative merits of the 'reversal of fortune' thesis, according to which the most politically and economically advanced polities of the precolonial era were subject to institutional reversal by European colonial powers, and the 'persistence of fortune' view, according to which early advantages in state formation persisted throughout and beyond the colonial era. Discussing the respective arguments, the article offers a synthesis: the effect of early state formation on development trajectories was subject to a threshold condition. Non-European states at the highest levels of precolonial political centralization were able to resist European encroachment and engage in defensive modernization, whereas states closest to, yet just below, this threshold were the most attractive targets for colonial exploitation. Since the onset of decolonization, however, such polities have been among the first to regain independence and world patterns of state capacity are increasingly reverting to those of the precolonial era
Colonial rule · Colonialism · Decolonization · Development economics · Economics · Independence (probability theory · Inheritance (genetic algorithm · Modernization theory · Persistence (discontinuity · Political economy · Political science · Politics · State (computer science · State formation · Subject (documents · Colonialism, slavery, and trade · Culture, Economy, and Development Studies · Historical Economic and Social Studies · History · Law
Precursors of regional development disparities in colonial dependencies
Decentralization, historical state capacity and public goods provision in Post-Soviet Russia
History and Ethnic Conflict
Early Statehood and Support for Autocratic Rule in Africa
When Strength Becomes Weakness
Bureaucracy and Growth
The Comparative Politics of Colonialism and Its Legacies
The Labyrinth of State Intervention in Communal Conflict in Africa
| Citations per year | 0.89 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2017 - 2025 (9) |
| Highly cited | No |