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British Colonial Legacies and Political Development World Development Vol. 32, No. 6, pp. 905–922, 2004 Ó 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved Printed in Great Britain www.elsevier.com/locate/worlddev 0305-750X/$ - see front matter doi:10.1016/j.worlddev.2003.12.001 British Colonial Legacies and Political Development MATTHEW K. LANGE * Brown University, Providence, RI, USA Summary. — This paper investigates the developmental legacies of British colonial rule. It draws on insight from qualitative case studies, which show that direct and indirect rule institutionalized very different states and thereby differentially affected postcolonial political development. The study proposes that these qualitative findings might provide insight into mechanisms underlying past statistical work on colonial state legacies. Using a variable measuring the extent to which 33 former British colonies were ruled through indirect legal-administrative institutions, the analysis finds that the extent of indirect colonial rule is strongly and negatively related to several different indicators of postcolonial political development while controlling for other factors. It therefore provides evidence that the present levels of political development among former British colonies have historical roots and have been shaped by the extent to which they were ruled either directly or indirectly during the colonial period. Ó 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Key words — British colonialism, democracy, state governance, legacies 1. INTRODUCTION tive legal systems, institutions that persisted and thereby benefited postcolonial develop- Over the past few years, numerous studies ment. Alternatively, where large-scale Euro- have investigated the potential impact of colo- pean settlement did not occur, colonial state nialism on long-term developmental trajecto- officials were not constrained by European ries (Brown, 2000; Grier, 1999; Kohli, 1994; settlers, focused simply on expropriating wealth Lange, 2003; Mahoney, 2003; Sokoloff & En- from the colonized, and therefore failed to german, 2000; Young, 1994). While most works provide the same legal protection of property as analyze the long-term effects of colonialism in settlement colonies. on economic development, several others con- While providing evidence that colonialism sider democratization, health, and education. shaped state institutions and thereby develop- Regardless of the outcome variable, however, mental trajectories, the intricacies of the au- nearly all of these scholars recognize that the thors’ argument are somewhat underdeveloped. colonial state was the primary extension of First, only a small proportion of the world’s foreign domination and investigate how its colonies experienced large-scale European set- form and persistence over time have shaped tlement, and the present state institutions of future development. former colonies with low levels of European Two of the most influential works are cross- settlement are characterized by great diversity. national, statistical analyses by Acemoglu, Other factors beside institutional transfer via Johnson, and Robinson (2001, 2002). Together, settlement or extraction therefore appear to the papers provide evidence that colonialism have affected state institutional quality. Second, transformed the developmental trajectories of although economic development requires the nearly all regions of the world and that these protection of property rights, state institutions reversals were colonial state legacies. They are multifaceted and influence economic as well divide colonialism into two broad categories–– as more broad-based human development in settlement and extractive. Settlement colonies several ways. A state-centered analysis of colo- were created in areas with relatively benign nial legacies must therefore have a broader view disease environments yet without large indige- of the state. nous populations. According to the authors, because settlers both demanded and helped to construct institutions that protected property rights, settlement colonies had relatively effec- * Final revision accepted: 9 December 2003. 905 906 WORLD DEVELOPMENT Recognizing these two critiques, this paper negative effects on development and suggest works within the general framework of Ace- that direct rule promoted the former while moglu et al., accepting their findings that the indirect rule promoted the latter. Boone (1994), form of colonialism was shaped by the disease Mamdani (1996), Migdal (1988), and Reno environment and precolonial population–– (1995), for instance, describe how indirect rule among other things––yet drawing on the works in Africa impeded political development of qualitative researchers to explore more through institutional legacies. These works elaborate explanations for the link between focus on how the institutional legacies of indi- colonialism and development. Specifically, it rect rule left ineffective central administrations, tests whether the extent to which former colo- empowered local chiefs, and thereby created a nies were ruled through either direct or indirect system of decentralized despotism that has left colonial institutions had long-term effects on the state both ineffective and near collapse. postcolonial state governance among colonies Alternatively, Amsden (1985), Huff (1994), with low levels of European settlement. To do Kohli (1994), Lange (2003), and Wade (1990) so, the paper reviews qualitative works dis- suggest that direct and bureaucratic colonial cussing the impact of direct and indirect colo- rule left legacies that made possible effective nial rule on political development and provides states and thereby state-led development. They a statistical test through the analysis of 33 focus on the state’s ability to provide a variety former British colonies whose populations at of public goods that enhance economic pro- the end of colonialism were overwhelmingly duction (education, health care, sanitation, non-European in origin. For the latter, it con- roads, law and order) and to steer the national structs an index measuring the extent to which economy. British colonies were ruled through indirect––as Direct and indirect forms of rule are often opposed to direct––legal-administrative insti- defined based on who runs what positions tutions and uses statistical methods to measure within the colonial state. Doyle (1986) claims whether relationships exist between the indirect that direct rule occurs when only the lowest rule variable and numerous indicators of post- levels of the colonial administration are run by colonial state governance: political stability, locals while the remaining positions are run by bureaucratic effectiveness, state regulatory bur- colonial officials. He writes that indirect rule, on den, rule of law, lack of government corrup- the other hand, occurs when ‘‘the governance of tion, and democratization. extensive districts of the colony is entrusted to The paper finds that there is a negative and members of the native elite under the supervi- robust relationship between the extent of indi- sion of the imperial governors’’ (p. 38). Fisher rect rule and political stability, bureaucratic (1991) disagrees, describing indirect rule as the effectiveness, lack of state regulatory burden, incorporation of indigenous institutions––not rule of law, and lack of government corruption simply individuals––into an overall structure of even controlling for other factors. The rela- colonial domination. From this view, direct rule tionship between the form of colonialism and differs from indirect rule in that it involves the postcolonial democratization, however, is less construction of a complete system of colonial robust, although still negative and marginally domination that lacks any relatively autono- significant. Thus, while recognizing that the mous indigenous component yet which might be paper’s findings are limited to former British staffed overwhelmingly by indigenous actors colonies and that more research is needed for (pp. 6–7). Similar to the latter, this project broader conclusions, it provides evidence that uses ‘‘direct’’ and ‘‘indirect rule’’ as concepts the qualitative works on indirect/direct colonial describing different structures of domination, rule are generalizable and might provide new not terms used to designate who runs the state. yet complementary insight into the findings of It suggests that the state in directly ruled colo- Acemoglu et al. nies approximated what Migdal (1994) calls ‘‘integrated domination’’––or centralized state control of an entire territory––while its coun- 2. VARIATION IN BRITISH terpart in indirectly ruled colonies was closer to COLONIALISM: DIRECT VS. INDIRECT ‘‘dispersed domination’’––or a fragmented state RULE unable to achieve countrywide domination over local power-holders (p. 9). Qualitative scholars who analyze colonial Direct rule provided an administrative state legacies emphasize both positive and structure based on formal rules, as opposed to BRITISH COLONIAL LEGACIES 907 individual decisions, and had a centralized Moreover, although often receiving a salary, legal-administrative structure with a formal chiefs earned most of their livelihood through chain of command that linked the diverse state the control of land and direct extraction from actors throughout the colony to the central their subjects. The chiefs were given executive, colonial administration and thereby back to legislative, and judicial powers to regulate governments in Europe or Japan. This cen- social relations in their chiefdoms, vast tralized and rule-based organization was
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