The British Effect: Is colonial legacy a contributing factor to post-colonial democratization?

Abstract

The drivers of democratic success are well-studied and comprise a complex topic with a plethora of economic, environmental, and historical factors given to explain the relative degree of democratic performance across countries. Amongst the factors that account for democratic success is the role of colonialism and whether colonial history and identity has contributed (or not) to the onset of liberal democracy in former colonies of former European imperial powers. Specifically, writers such as Lange (2004) and Ferguson (2004) have argued that former British colonies have enjoyed higher levels of democratic success than former colonies of other European colonial powers such as France or Spain.

Following a statistical analysis that measures the extent of democratic success across eighty-five former colonies, according to two prevalent indices that analyze levels of freedom and democratic success (Freedom House and The Economist Intelligence Unit), I found that the correlation between democratic success and colonial history was not significant across the data set and instead has been limited to a few specific exceptions. The study finds that a specific form of settler colonialism and related institutional building in particular countries (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, United States) was instrumental in contributing to isolated cases of democratic consolidation. However, after controlling for those exceptional cases, I conclude that there is not a meaningful democratic outperformance of former British colonies vis-à-vis the former colonies of France, Spain, and the other European colonial powers.