Political Economy Workshop (Gov 3007)

Amanda Pinkston will present one of her job market writing samples “Insider Democracy”. Abstract for “Insider Democracy" This paper introduces the concept of insider democracy, in which the institutions necessary for democracy - including multiparty elections, protections for free speech and free association, and a market-based economy - coexist alongside a political class dominated by government insiders, defined as those who initially gained access to the state through appointment or personal connections (rather than election). Empirically, I demonstrate that the political elite in Africa's competitive democracies is comprised overwhelmingly of government insiders, and that the predominance of insiders has not decreased over time. With the case of Benin, one of Africa's strongest democracies, I provide evidence that the cause of insider democracy is private sector weakness. A weak private sector concentrates economic resources in the state by default, even where the state does not formally control the economy. The result is that people without ties to the state tend to lack the resources necessary to run viable campaigns, leaving government insiders to dominate elections and the political class.