31st Annual Student Research Conference
Sub-Saharan Africa: Colonization's Effect on Democratization
Julianna N. Nguyen
Dr. John Quinn, Faculty Mentor
This study seeks to analyze the relationship between colonization and the late levels of democratization for countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Building on the institutional theory developed by Acemolgu, Robinson, and Johnson (2000), linking economic growth to settler population, this project aims to apply their perspective to the political realm. It is hypothesized that the higher levels of colonial impact in sub-Saharan Africa--measured through settler population--will predict the levels of political democratization in the post-Cold War period. The logic goes that countries that had higher settler populations had transferred more institutions that lead to democracy. A regression analysis will be applied to test this hypothesis.The project will also assess a number of controlled variables identified in previous research, including GDP per capita and literacy levels prior to transition, ethnic fragmentation, and levels of civil conflicts.
Keywords: Sub-Saharan Africa, Colonization and Colonial Footprint, Freedom, Democratization, State Building, Political Stability, Independence, Modernization
Topic(s):Political Science
African Studies
History
Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: 308-4
Location: VH 1010
Time: 1:45