Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T16:38:18.007Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A general theory of power concentration: demographic influences on political organization

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 June 2018

John Gerring ,
Matthew Maguire  and
Jillian Jaeger
John Gerring*
Affiliation:
Department of Government, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA
Matthew Maguire
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA
Jillian Jaeger
Affiliation:
Department of Government, St. Lawrence University, Canton, NY, USA
*
*E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Why is the exercise of political power highly concentrated in some polities and widely dispersed in others? We argue that one important causal factor is demographic. Populous polities are characterized by less concentrated structures of authority. To explain this relationship, we invoke two mechanisms: heterogeneity and trust. The theory is demonstrated with a wide variety of empirical measures in cross-country analyses including most sovereign states and extending back to the 19th century. The result suggests the possibility of a ubiquitous ‘law’ of politics.

Keywords

demographypower concentrationcentralization
Type
Research Article
Information
European Political Science Review , Volume 10 , Issue 4 , November 2018 , pp. 491 - 513
Copyright
© European Consortium for Political Research 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alesina, A. and Spolaore, E. (2003), The Size of Nations, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Alesina, A., Perotti, R. and Spolaore, E. (1995), ‘Together or separately? Issues on the costs and benefits of political and fiscal unions’, European Economic Review 39(3–4): 751–758.Google Scholar
Arzaghi, M. and Henderson, V. (2005), ‘Why countries are fiscally decentralizing’, Journal of Public Economics 89(7): 1157–1189.Google Scholar
Bardhan, P. (2002), ‘Decentralization of Governance and Development’, Journal of Economic Perspectives 16(4): 185–205.Google Scholar
Bardhan, P. and Mookherjee, D. (eds) (2006), Decentralization and Local Governance in Developing Countries: A Comparative Perspective, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Beck, T., Clarke, G., Groff, A., Keefer, P. and Walsh, P. (2001), ‘New tools and new tests in comparative political economy: the database of political institutions’, World Bank Economic Review 15(1): 165–176.Google Scholar
Benz, A. and Broschek, J. (2013), Federal Dynamics: Continuity, Change, and the Varieties of Federalism, Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Berezina, M. and Diez-Medrano, J. (2008), ‘Distance matters: place, political legitimacy and popular support for European integration’, Comparative European Politics 6: 1–32.Google Scholar
Besley, T. and Coate, S. (2003), ‘Centralized versus decentralized provision of local public goods: a political economy approach’, Journal of Public Economy 87: 2611–2637.Google Scholar
Blume, L. and Voigt, S. (2011), ‘Federalism and decentralization—a critical survey of frequently used indicators’, Constitutional Political Economy 22(3): 238–264.Google Scholar
Bolton, P. and Roland, G. (1997), ‘The breakup of nations: a political economy analysis’, Quarterly Journal of Economics 112(4): 1057–1090.Google Scholar
Buchanan, J.M. (1995), ‘Federalism as an ideal political order and an objective for constitutional reform’, Publius: The Journal of Federalism 25(2): 19–27.Google Scholar
Cameron, M.A. and Falleti, T.G. (2005), ‘Federalism and the subnational separation of powers’, Publius 35(2): 245–271.Google Scholar
Coppedge, M., Gerring, J., Lindberg, S.I., Teorell, J., Altman, D., Bernhard, M., Fish, M.S., Glynn, A., Hicken, A., Knutsen, C.H., McMann, K., Pemstein, D., Reif, M., Skaaning, S.-E., Staton, J., Tzelgov, E., Wang, Y.-T. and Zimmerman, B. (2015), ‘Varieties of democracy: Codebook v5’, Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Project.Google Scholar
Crémer, J. and Palfrey, T.R. (1999), ‘Political confederation’, American Political Science Review 93(1): 69–83.Google Scholar
Dahl, R.A. and Tufte, E. (1973), Size and Democracy, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Denters, B. (2002), ‘Size and political trust: evidence from Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, and the United Kingdom’, Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy 20: 793–812.Google Scholar
Denters, B., Goldsmith, M., Ladner, A., Mourtizen, P.E. and Rose, L.E. (2014), Size and Local Democracy, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.Google Scholar
Dickovick, J.T. (2011), Decentralization and Recentralization in the Developing World: Comparative Studies from Africa and Latin America, University Park, PA: Penn State University Press.Google Scholar
Dubois, H.F.W. and Fattore, G. (2009), ‘Definitions and typologies in public administration research: the case of decentralization’, International Journal of Public Administration 32(8): 704–727.Google Scholar
Eaton, K.J. (2004), Politics Beyond the Capital: The Design of Subnational Institutions in South America, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Eaton, K.J. and Dickovick, T. (2004), ‘The politics of re-centralization in Argentina and Brazil’, Latin American Research Review 39(1): 90–122.Google Scholar
Enikolopov, R. and Zhuravskaya, E. (2007), ‘Decentralization and Political Institutions’, Journal of Public Economics 91: 2261–2290.Google Scholar
Falleti, T.G. (2005), ‘A sequential theory of decentralization: Latin American cases in comparative perspective’, American Political Science Review 99(3): 327–346.Google Scholar
Falleti, T.G. (2010), Decentralization and Subnational Politics in Latin America, New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Freedom House (2007), ‘Methodology’, Freedom in the World 2007, New York. Retrieved 5 September 2007 from http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=351&ana_page=333&year=2007.Google Scholar
Garman, C., Haggard, S. and Willis, E. (2001), ‘Fiscal decentralization: a political theory with Latin American cases’, World Politics 53(2): 205–236.Google Scholar
Garrett, G. and Rodden, J. (2003), ‘Globalization and fiscal decentralization’, in Miles Kahler and David Lake (eds), Governance in a Global Economy: Political Authority in Transition, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, pp. 87–109.Google Scholar
Gerring, J. and Thacker, S.C. (2008), A Centripetal Theory of Democratic Governance, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Gerring, J., Ziblatt, D., Van Gorp, J. and Arevalo, J. (2011), ‘An institutional theory of direct and indirect rule’, World Politics 63(3): 377–433.Google Scholar
Gibler, D.M. (2010), ‘Outside-in: the effects of external threat on state centralization’, Journal of Conflict Resolution 54(4): 519–542.Google Scholar
Grossman, G. and Lewis, J. (2014), ‘Administrative unit proliferation’, American Political Science Review 108(1): 196–217.Google Scholar
Hansen, S.W. (2013), ‘Polity size and local political trust: a quasi-experiment using municipal mergers in Denmark’, Scandinavian Political Studies 36(1): 43–66.Google Scholar
Hawkins, D.G., Lake, D.A., Nielson, D.L. and Tierney, M.J. (eds) (2006), Delegation and Agency in International Organizations, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hendershot, G.E. (1973), ‘Population size, military power, and antinatal policy’, Demography 10(4): 517–524.Google Scholar
Henisz, W.J. (2002), ‘The institutional environment for infrastructure investment’, Industrial and Corporate Change 11(2): 355–389.Google Scholar
Honaker, J. and King, G. (2010), ‘What to do about missing values in time series cross-section data’, American Journal of Political Science 54(2): 561–581.Google Scholar
Hooghe, L. and Marks, G. (2009), ‘Does efficiency shape the territorial structure of government?’, Annual Review of Political Science 12: 225–241.Google Scholar
Hooghe, L. and Marks, G. (2013), ‘Beyond federalism: estimating and explaining the territorial structure of government’, Publius 43(2): 179–204.Google Scholar
Hooghe, L., Marks, G. and Schakel, A. (2010), The Rise of Regional Authority: A Comparative Study of 42 Democracies, New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Hueglin, T.O. and Fenna, A. (2006), Comparative Federalism: A Systematic Inquiry, Peterborough: Broadview Press.Google Scholar
Johnston, R.E. (1969), The Effect of Judicial Review on Federal-State Relations in Australia, Canada, and the United States, Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press.Google Scholar
Lake, D. (2009), Hierarchy in International Relations, Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Lange, M. (2009), Lineages of Despotism and Development: British Colonialism and State Power, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Letelier, L.S. (2005), ‘Explaining fiscal decentralization’, Public Finance Review 33(2): 155–183.Google Scholar
Lijphart, A. (1977), Democracy in Plural Societies, New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Lijphart, A. (1999), Patterns of Democracy: Government Forms and Performance in Thirty-Six Countries, New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Listhaug, O. (1995), ‘The dynamics of trust in politicians’, in Hans-Dieter Klingemann and Dieter Fuchs (eds), Citizens and the State, New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 261–297.Google Scholar
Manor, J. (1999), The Political Economy of Democratic Decentralization, Washington, DC: The World Bank.Google Scholar
Matsubayashi, T. (2007), ‘Population size, local autonomy, and support for the political system’, Social Science Quarterly 88(3): 830–849.Google Scholar
Montero, A.P. and Samuels, D.J. (eds), (2004), Decentralization and Democracy in Latin America, Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.Google Scholar
Mookherjee, D. (2006), ‘Decentralization, hierarchies, and incentives: a mechanism design perspective’, Journal of Economic Literature 44: 367–390.Google Scholar
Morris, H.F. (1972), ‘Native courts: a cornerstone of indirect rule’, in H.F. Morris and James S. Read (eds), Indirect Rule and the Search for Justice: Essays in E. African Legal History, Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Nielsen, H.J. (1981), ‘Size and evaluation of government: Danish attitudes towards politics at multiple levels of government’, European Journal of Political Research 9: 47–60.Google Scholar
North, D. and Weingast, B. (1989), ‘Constitutions and commitment: the evolution of institutions governing public choice in seventeenth-century England’, Journal of Economic History 49(4): 803–832.Google Scholar
Nye, J.S. Jr. (2005), Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics, New York: Public Affairs.Google Scholar
O’Neill, M. (2000), ‘Great Britain: from Dicey to devolution’, Parliamentary Affairs 53(1): 69–95.Google Scholar
O’Neill, K. (2005), Decentralizing the State: Elections, Parties, and Local Power in the Andes, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Oates, W.E. (1972), Fiscal Federalism, New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.Google Scholar
Oates, W.E. (2005), ‘Toward a second-generation theory of fiscal federalism’, International Tax and Public Finance 12: 349–374.Google Scholar
Panizza, U. (1999), ‘On the determinants of fiscal centralization: theory, and evidence’, Journal of Public Economics 74(1): 97–139.Google Scholar
Prud’homme, R. (1995), ‘The dangers of decentralization’, World Bank Research Observer 10(2): 201–220.Google Scholar
Rahn, W.M. and Rudolph, T.J. (2005), ‘A tale of political trust in American cities’, Public Opinion Quarterly 69(4): 530–560.Google Scholar
Riker, W. (1964), Federalism: Origin, Operation, Significance, Boston, MA: Little, Brown.Google Scholar
Skaaning, S.-E., Gerring, J. and Bartusevičius, H. (2015), ‘A Lexical index of electoral democracy’, Comparative Political Studies 48(12): 1491–1525.Google Scholar
Tiebout, C.M. (1956), ‘A pure theory of local government expenditure’, Journal of Political Economy 64: 416–424.Google Scholar
Treisman, D.S. (2006), ‘Explaining fiscal decentralization: geography, colonial history, economic development, and political institutions’, Journal of Commonwealth and Comparative Politics 44(3): 289–325.Google Scholar
Tsebelis, G. (2002), Veto Players, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Turner, S.C. (2011), ‘Country size, institutions, and trust: some evolutionary evidence’. Retrieved 11 January 2017 from http://ssrn.com/abstract=1811063 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1811063.Google Scholar
Veenendaal, W. (2013), ‘Politics and democracy in microstates: a comparative analysis of the effects of size on contestation and inclusiveness’. PhD Dissertation, University of Leiden, Leiden, The Netherlands.Google Scholar
Veliz, C. (1980), The Centralist Tradition of Latin America, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Vile, M.J.C. (1998 [1967]), Constitutionalism and the Separation of Powers, Indianapolis, IN: Liberty Fund.Google Scholar
Waldron, J. (2002), ‘One law for all? The logic of cultural accommodation’, Washington & Lee Law Review 59(1): 3–34.Google Scholar
Whittington, K.E. (2009), Political Foundations of Judicial Supremacy: The Presidency, the Supreme Court, and Constitutional Leadership in US History, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Wibbels, E. (2005), ‘Decentralized governance, constitution formation, and redistribution’, Constitutional Political Economy 16: 161–188.Google Scholar
Wibbels, E. (2006), ‘Madison in Baghdad? Decentralization and federalism in comparative politics’, Annual Review of Political Science 9: 165–188.Google Scholar
Willis, E., Garman, da C. B. C. and Haggard, S. (1999), ‘The politics of decentralization in Latin America’, Latin American Research Review 34(1): 7–56.Google Scholar
World Bank (2005), World Development Indicators 2005, Washington, DC: World Bank.Google Scholar
World Bank (2007), World Development Indicators 2007, Washington, DC: World Bank.Google Scholar
World Bank (2012), World Development Indicators 2012, Washington, DC: World Bank.Google Scholar
World Bank (2016), World Development Indicators 2016, Washington, DC: World Bank.Google Scholar
Ziblatt, D. (2006), Structuring the State: The Formation of Italy and Germany and the Puzzle of Federalism, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Gerring et al. supplementary material

Appendices A-E

Download Gerring et al. supplementary material(File)
File 892.7 KB