The Legacy of Western Overseas Colonialism on Democratic Survival
Abstract
Using an original dataset that covers the period from 1951 to 1995, we consider the enduring effects of Western overseas colonialism on the democratic survival of postcolonial democracies. We treat colonialism as a holistic phenomenon and differentiate the relative effects of its legacies with regard to the level of economic development, social fragmentation, and the relationship between the state and civil society. We find that Western overseas colonialism, a factor often overlooked in recent large-n studies, continues to have an effect on the survival of democratic regimes. We further find that the legacy of specific colonial powers has an important effect on survival as well. Unlike previous studies, we find that former Spanish colonies outperform British colonies when colonialism is conceptualized holistically. However, when we break colonial legacy into separate components (development, social fragmentation, and the relationship between the state and civil society), we find that the advantages former British colonies enjoy are attributable to the legacy of the state/civil society relationship. Moreover, we show that at least in the case of former British colonies, time spent under colonial rule is positively associated with democratic survival.
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Past colonial status has a negative impact on democratic survival.
“We also include controls for the negative impact of past colonial status (Bernhard et al. 2004)”
From Parties, Civil Society, and the Deterrence of Democratic Defection (2020) · cites this paper as Bernhard et al. 2004
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BackgroundThe Long Shadows of Spanish and French Colonial Education
Feldmann, H. (2016) · Kyklos · doi:10.1111/kykl.12102 · Cited by 27 · see citing works
“This is in line with much of the relevant previous literature (e.g., Bernhard et al. 2004).”
Democratic Legacies: Using Democratic Stock to Assess Norms, Growth, and Regime TrajectoriesPreprint
Edgell, A. B., Wilson, M. C., Boese, V. A., & Grahn, S. (2020) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.3595957 · Cited by 26 · see citing works
V-Dem Methodology V8Preprint
Coppedge, M., Gerring, J., Knutsen, C. H., Lindberg, S. I., Skaaning, S., Teorell, J., Krusell, J., Marquardt, K. L., Medzihorsky, J., Pemstein, D., et al. (2018) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.3172796 · Cited by 26 · see citing works
Reforming civil–military relations
Kuehn, D., & Croissant, A. (2023) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780198803362.003.0004 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
V-Dem Methodology V6Preprint
Coppedge, M., Gerring, J., Lindberg, S. I., Skaaning, S., Teorell, J., Andersson, F., Marquardt, K. L., Mechkova, V., Miri, F., Pemstein, D., et al. (2016) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.2951040 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
Mobilization and Conflict in Multiethnic States
Vogt, M. (2019) · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190065874.001.0001 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
Long Time Coming: Prospects for Democracy in Iraq
Moon, B. E. (2009) · International Security · doi:10.1162/isec.2009.33.4.115 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
Commodity price volatility, inflation uncertainty and political stability
Abaidoo, R., & Agyapong, E. K. (2022) · International Review of Economics · doi:10.1007/s12232-022-00395-3 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
Cho, J. (2023) · University of Michigan Press eBooks · doi:10.3998/mpub.12738649 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
Variation in the Durability of Semi-Presidential Democracies
Elgie, R., & Schleiter, P. (2011) · Palgrave Macmillan UK eBooks · doi:10.1057/9780230306424_3 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
Varieties of Democracy:Measuring Two Centuries of Political Change
Coppedge, M., Gerring, J., Knutsen, C. H., Lindberg, S. I., & Tzelgov, E. (2020) · UEA Digital Repository (University of East Anglia) · doi:10.1017/9781108347860 · Cited by 224 · see citing works
On the causes of electoral volatility in Asia since 1948
Lee, D. S., & Bértoa, F. C. (2021) · Party Politics · doi:10.1177/13540688211046858 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
“…parliaments” (Bernhard et al., 2004: 231; Abernethy, 2000: 367); and in contrast to other colonial powers, the British were more willing to pursue reform and compromise with colonial subjects facing contentious issues in their possessions (Bernhard et al., 2004: 231; Hadenius, 1992: 129).”
BackgroundInfluentialThe Quality of Government Dataset Codebook
Samanni, M., Holmberg, S., & Rothstein, B. (2011) · Cited by 19 · see citing works
ECONOMIC SANCTIONS AND CULTURE
Driscoll, D. A., Halcoussis, D., & Lowenberg, A. D. (2010) · Defence and Peace Economics · doi:10.1080/10242694.2010.500826 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
“For example, Henderson ( 1998 ) points out that democratic dyads typically have higher religious similarity levels than non‐democratic dyads, while Bernhard et al , ( 2004 ) find that Western overseas colonialism has a positive effect on the survival of democratic regimes.”
BackgroundWhat Determines Rule of Law? An Empirical Investigation of Rival Models
Hansson, G. (2009) · Kyklos · doi:10.1111/j.1467-6435.2009.00441.x · Cited by 15 · see citing works
V-Dem Methodology V7Preprint
Coppedge, M., Gerring, J., Lindberg, S. I., Skaaning, S., Teorell, J., Krusell, J., Marquardt, K. L., Mechkova, V., Pemstein, D., Pernes, J., et al. (2017) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.2968284 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
Stateness problems or regime unification? Explaining obstacles to democratization in Burma/Myanmar
Dukalskis, A. (2009) · Democratization · doi:10.1080/13510340903162119 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
Elmghaamez, I. K., & Elmagrhi, M. (2022) · International Journal of Auditing · doi:10.1111/ijau.12273 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
Weiffen, B. (2008) · World Development · doi:10.1016/j.worlddev.2008.01.009 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
Class, power, and patronage: the landed elite and politics in Pakistani Punjab
Javid, H. (2012) · London School of Economics and Political Science Theses Online (London School of Economics and Political Science) · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Disinformation and Regime Survival
Sato, Y., & Wiebrecht, F. (2024) · Political Research Quarterly · doi:10.1177/10659129241252811 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
“In addition, studies indicate that negative economic growth is a predictor of regime breakdown either through democrati-zation (e.g., Teorell 2010) or democratic breakdown (e.g., Bernhard, Reenock, and Nordstrom 2004).”
BackgroundSeeberg, M. A. (2013) · Democratization · doi:10.1080/13510347.2012.755516 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
Does Aid Promote Electoral Integrity?
Uberti, L. J., & Jackson, D. (2019) · The Journal of Development Studies · doi:10.1080/00220388.2019.1657572 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
The Reversal of Fortune Thesis Reconsidered
Bandyopadhyay, S., & Green, E. D. (2012) · The Journal of Development Studies · doi:10.1080/00220388.2011.648621 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
“This disparity among colonial powers is not surprising, however, considering the voluminous literature on the different effects of colonial powers on post-colonial economic and political development (Grier, 1999; Firmin-Sellers, 2000; Blanton et al., 2001; Bertocchi and Canova, 2002; Bernhard et al., 2004; Lange et al…”
BackgroundAfrican exceptions: democratic development in small island states
Sanches, E. R., Cheeseman, N., Veenendaal, W. P., & Corbett, J. (2021) · Journal of International Relations and Development · doi:10.1057/s41268-021-00223-1 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
Reproductive Health Laws Around the World
Finlay, J. E., Canning, D., & Po, J. Y. T. (2012) · Greenwich Academic Literature Archive (University of Greenwich) · Cited by 10 · see citing works
Social Forces and Regime Change: Beyond Class Analysis
Clarke, K. (2017) · World Politics · doi:10.1017/s0043887117000119 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Wealth Inequality and Democracy
Bagchi, S., & Fagerstrom, M. J. (2022) · Public Choice · doi:10.1007/s11127-023-01082-9 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
Varieties of Democracy Project DescriptionPreprint
Coppedge, M., Gerring, J., & Lindberg, S. I. (2012) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.2132586 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
Trade, scale or social capital? Technological progress in poor and rich countries
Jalles, J. T., & Tavares, J. (2014) · Journal of International Trade & Economic Development · doi:10.1080/09638199.2014.969757 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
Infusing African management philosophy into project management
Marnewick, C., Erasmus, W., & Joseph, N. (2018) · Acta Commercii · doi:10.4102/ac.v18i1.585 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
Statistical analysis of democratization: a constructive critique
Seawright, J. (2018) · Democratization · doi:10.1080/13510347.2018.1511540 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
Diffusion and the choice of democratic government system at the time of democratisation
Åberg, J., & Denk, T. (2020) · Zeitschrift für Vergleichende Politikwissenschaft · doi:10.1007/s12286-020-00446-5 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Methodology V10Preprint
Coppedge, M., Gerring, J., Knutsen, C. H., Lindberg, S. I., Teorell, J., Marquardt, K. M., Medzihorsky, J., Pemstein, D., Alizada, N., Gastaldi, L., et al. (2020) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.3557904 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Self-citationGorokhovskaia, Y. (2017) · doi:10.1093/obo/9780199756223-0224 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Length of independence and democratic failure
Denk, T., & Anckar, C. (2014) · Contemporary Politics · doi:10.1080/13569775.2014.968471 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
“Olsson (2009), but disconfirmed by Bernhard et al. (2004), Hadenius (1992, pp.”
BackgroundRay, S. (2016) · Journal of Peace Research · doi:10.1177/0022343316663814 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Quantifying the Effect of Economic Sanctions on Trade in Cultural Goods
Doan, N. T., & Trần, M. H. (2023) · International Economic Journal · doi:10.1080/10168737.2023.2220300 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
“For instance, Henderson (1998) revealed that democratic pairs tend to have a higher level of religious similarity than non-democratic ones, whereas Bernhard et al. (2004) showed that Western foreign colonization has a positive impact on the survival ability of democratic regimes. Indeed, the colonial legacy has been s…”
BackgroundInfluentialGrahn, S., & Lührmann, A. (2021) · Journal of Civil Society · doi:10.1080/17448689.2021.2003139 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
“To understand why states have such varying odds at democratizing independence, the research on the mechanisms and dynamics of those struggles is of fundamental importance (e.g., BennichBjörkman, 2007; Bernhard et al., 2004; Oldenburg, 2010).”
BackgroundHow Post-colonial Armies Came About: Comparative Perspectives from Asia and Africa
Barany, Z. D. (2013) · Journal of Asian and African Studies · doi:10.1177/0021909613507229 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
“It has been argued that, all things being equal, the longer the duration of British – as opposed to other European – colonial rule, the higher the likelihood of democratic survival (Bernhard et al., 2004: 225–250; Weiner, 1987: 3–34).”
BackgroundSamanni, M., Holmberg, S., & Rothstein, B. (2011) · Cited by 5 · see citing works
A Power Through Trade? The European Union and Democracy Promotion in ACP States
Nottebaum, D. (2012) · Global power shift · doi:10.1007/978-3-642-25082-8_13 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Power Elites in Pakistan: Creation, Contestations, Continuity
Shoukat, A., Gomez, E. T., & Cheong, K.-C. (2017) · Malaysian Journal of Economic Studies · doi:10.22452/mjes.vol54no2.4 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Jeong, T., & Jeong, C. K. (2023) · Nations and Nationalism · doi:10.1111/nana.12987 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Reflections on the implications of evolutionary psychology for the theory of institutions
Eastwood, J. (2012) · Journal of Institutional Economics · doi:10.1017/s1744137412000094 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
State-Making Lessons For International Relations Research
Lemke, D. (2019) · Perspectives on Politics · doi:10.1017/s1537592719000987 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
“Acemoglu, Johnson, and Robinson (2001) investigate how colonial experiences influence post-independence economic performance, and Bernhard, Reenock, and Nordstrom (2004) consider how colonial experiences influence the duration of democracy in former colonies.”
BackgroundDemocracy, Colonial Legacy, and the Openness of Cabinet-Level Websites in Developing Countries
Katchanovski, I., & Porte, T. L. (2009) · Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis Research and Practice · doi:10.1080/13876980902888095 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
“…are typically attributed to the indirect rule and to the influence of legal-administrative institutions used by Great Britain in most of its colonies, compared to the more direct and assimilationist rule employed by other colonial powers (see Bollen and Jackman 1985, Brown 2000, Bernhard et al .”
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The Relationship Between State Effectiveness And State Legitimacy: A Quantitative Test
Tran, B. T. N. (2018) · doi:10.30707/etd2018.tran.b · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Behrens, L., & Rohlfing, I. (2026) · Sociological Methods & Research · doi:10.1177/00491241241295336 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
“This is indicative of a positive marginal effect of indirect rule because British colonies are consistently described as having been more indirectly ruled (Bernhard, Reenock, and Nordstrom, 2004; Brown, 2000; Grier, 1999: section 2).”
Mapping anomalous democracies during the Cold War
Seeberg, M. A. (2014) · Australian Journal of Political Science · doi:10.1080/10361146.2013.857388 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
“The beneficial impact of being a former British colony is the factor that emerges most often, but not always, from these studies (Bernhard, Reenock, and Nordstrom 2004; Clague, Gleason, and Knack 2001).”
BackgroundInfluentialDimensions and Components of Democracy
Coppedge, M., Gerring, J., Glynn, A., Knutsen, C. H., Lindberg, S. I., Pemstein, D., Seim, B., Skaaning, S., Teorell, J., Altman, D., et al. (2020) · Varieties of Democracy · doi:10.1017/9781108347860.005 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Self-citationExtended Endogenous and Exogenous Protection in the EU-US Banana Disputes
Fattore, C., & Allison, M. E. (2013) · The Latin Americanist · doi:10.1111/j.1557-203x.2013.01195.x · Cited by 3 · see citing works
“Given the historical importance of a colonial legacy, one of the bilateral relations where we expect to see exogenous protection at work involves the relationship between former colonial powers and their colonies (Athow and Blanton 2002; Bernhard et al. 2004, p. 229).”
BackgroundBapat, N. A. (2020) · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190061456.001.0001 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Asymmetrical Constraints on Democratic Regime Types: A Comparative StudyPreprint
Møller, J. Ø., Seeberg, M. A., & Skaaning, S. (2011) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.1911767 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
- Authors
- Bernhard, M., Reenock, C., & Nordstrom, T.
- Affiliations
- Pennsylvania State University (US)
- Florida State University (US)
- University of Mississippi (US)
- Venue
- International Studies Quarterly
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2004-03
- Volume
- 48
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 225-250
- ISSN
- 0020-8833 (ISSN-L)
- 1468-2478
- OpenAlex
- W2008749442
- Cited by
- 237
- References
- 79
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 38 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 20 · 2020: 29 · 2019: 27 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 8 · 2016: 11 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 9 · 2013: 6 · 2012: 13
- FWCI
- 10.09
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- International Studies Quarterly (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Political Conflict and Governance
- Social Sciences › Demography › Culture, Economy, and Development Studies
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Political Theory and Democracy
- Keywords
- colonial legacy, democratic survival, postcolonial democracy, Western colonialism, state-civil society relations, social fragmentation, economic development, British colonies, Spanish colonies, regime durability
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