Institutions, Economic Reform, and Democratic Consolidation in Mauritius

Bibliographic Data

ID6247656
AuthorsDeborah Brautigam (0000-0002-3282-0375, corresponding author)
Year1997
Volume30
Issue1
Pages45
Publication date1997-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueComparative Politics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0010-4159 • E-ISSN: 2151-6227
PublisherJSTOR (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/422192
OpenAlexW2334665770
LanguageEN
Citations received40
References cited8

With more than fifty countries having made transitions to democracy between 1986 and 1996, dilemmas of democratic consolidation loom as next challenge for policymakers and scholars. Although political scientists have devoted increasing attention to democratic consolidation and economic reform, our understanding of their mutual influence remains relatively limited.' As one recent study noted, if success means resuming growth under democratic conditions, evidence for successful recipes turns out to be much thinner than for disasters.2 This article analyzes experience of Mauritius, one of sub-Saharan few fully consolidated democracies that is also notable for three periods of successful stabilization and adjustment. Nicknamed by media Africa's little tiger, Mauritius is a small, ethnically heterogeneous island nation located four hundred miles off coast of Madagascar. During difficult 1980s it implemented stabilization and liberalization policies that bolstered export-led growth while maintaining comprehensive social services, improving income distribution, and raising GNP per capita to $3150, almost eight times $460 average for sub-Saharan Africa.3 In consolidated democracies, as Juan Linz and Alfred Stepan put it, democratic processes are the only game in town.4 Elections are not always won by same party; conflicts are habitually resolved within rules and institutions of regime; rule of law protects freedoms of civil society; and democratic practices are deeply internalized in expectations of citizens and rulers and in workings of society.5 The literature on democratic consolidation and economic reform suggests that four institutional variables-rules of representation, rules governing public-private relations, rules structuring distribution and social policy, and rules governing economic policymaking power-explain much of variance in countries' abilities to achieve both democratic consolidation and economic reform

Consolidation (business · Democracy · Democratic consolidation · Democratization · Development economics · Economic reform · Economic system · Economics · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Economic Growth and Productivity · Economic Zones and Regional Development · Fiscal Policy and Economic Growth · Law

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