African exceptions: democratic development in small island states
African exceptions: democratic development in small island states
Small island states are much more likely to have democratic regimes than large continental states. This trend also holds across Africa, where the five island states with populations of 1.5 million or less are all rated at least ‘partly free’ by Freedom House. In this article we explore what it is about being a small island state that might explain this trend. Building on studies from other small island states, we find that the interaction between the two contextual factors is key to explaining their diversion from mainland trends in the African context. Specifically, ‘smallness’ leads to closer links between citizens and politicians in addition to more effective service delivery, while ‘islandness’ promotes community cohesion and provides a buffer against instability and conflict in neighbouring states. This results in a positive feedback loop that guards against authoritarian excess. Our focus on population size and geography thus adds to the existing studies of the contextual drivers of African democratisation.
Africa, Community cohesion, Democratisation, Elite-citizen links, Informal politics, Small island states
210–234
Sanches, Edalina Rodrigues
bb9b1e08-b3dd-4ba2-8ffb-eae9b51f9a6d
Cheeseman, Nic
fa6ddc43-6d89-40fe-8852-3d4e35daa49e
Veenendaal, Wouter
230cf0c6-70cb-465d-8664-2ec9798bcdb0
Corbett, Jack
ad651655-ac70-4072-a36f-92165e296ce2
1 March 2022
Sanches, Edalina Rodrigues
bb9b1e08-b3dd-4ba2-8ffb-eae9b51f9a6d
Cheeseman, Nic
fa6ddc43-6d89-40fe-8852-3d4e35daa49e
Veenendaal, Wouter
230cf0c6-70cb-465d-8664-2ec9798bcdb0
Corbett, Jack
ad651655-ac70-4072-a36f-92165e296ce2
Sanches, Edalina Rodrigues, Cheeseman, Nic, Veenendaal, Wouter and Corbett, Jack
(2022)
African exceptions: democratic development in small island states.
Journal of International Relations and Development, 25 (1), .
(doi:10.1057/s41268-021-00223-1).
Abstract
Small island states are much more likely to have democratic regimes than large continental states. This trend also holds across Africa, where the five island states with populations of 1.5 million or less are all rated at least ‘partly free’ by Freedom House. In this article we explore what it is about being a small island state that might explain this trend. Building on studies from other small island states, we find that the interaction between the two contextual factors is key to explaining their diversion from mainland trends in the African context. Specifically, ‘smallness’ leads to closer links between citizens and politicians in addition to more effective service delivery, while ‘islandness’ promotes community cohesion and provides a buffer against instability and conflict in neighbouring states. This results in a positive feedback loop that guards against authoritarian excess. Our focus on population size and geography thus adds to the existing studies of the contextual drivers of African democratisation.
Text
Anonymous Manuscript File 16-03-2021
- Accepted Manuscript
More information
Accepted/In Press date: 17 March 2021
e-pub ahead of print date: 8 June 2021
Published date: 1 March 2022
Additional Information:
Funding Information:
The authors are thankful to the three anonymous reviewers and the editors of the Journal of International Relations and Development , for their careful reading and insightful comments.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, Springer Nature Limited.
Keywords:
Africa, Community cohesion, Democratisation, Elite-citizen links, Informal politics, Small island states
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 447976
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/447976
PURE UUID: 6488adbf-2e2c-4588-aac6-bcbd88ef8239
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Date deposited: 29 Mar 2021 16:36
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 06:26
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Contributors
Author:
Edalina Rodrigues Sanches
Author:
Nic Cheeseman
Author:
Wouter Veenendaal
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