Political Dynasties in Defense of Democracy

The Case of France's 1940 Enabling Act

Bibliographic Data

ID5043829
AuthorsJean Lacroix (0000-0002-9106-1110, Université Paris-Saclay), Pierre-Guillaume Méon, Pierre‐guillaume Méon (0000-0003-1740-2922, Université Libre de Bruxelles), Kim Oosterlinck (0000-0002-8496-1575, Université Libre de Bruxelles, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume83
Issue2
Pages359-397
Publication date2023-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Journal of Economic History (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-0507 • E-ISSN: 1471-6372
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0022050723000104
OpenAlexW4360855687
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited42

The literature has pointed out the negative aspects of political dynasties. But can political dynasties help prevent autocratic reversals? We argue that political dynasties differ according to their ideological origin and that those whose founder was a defender of democratic ideals, for simplicity labeled "pro-democratic dynasties," show stronger support for democracy. We analyze the vote by the French parliament on 10 July 1940 of an enabling act that granted full power to Marshall Philippe Pétain, thereby ending the Third French Republic and aligning France with Nazi Germany. Using data collected from the biographies of parliamentarians and information on their voting behavior, we find that members of a pro-democratic dynasty were 9.6 to 15.1 percentage points more likely to oppose the act than other parliamentarians. We report evidence that socialization inside and outside parliament shaped the vote of parliamentarians

Autocracy · Ballot · Democracy · Ideology · Parliament · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Power (physics) · Sociology · Voting · Culture, Economy, and Development Studies · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Law · Religion and Society Interactions

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