BRITISH COLONIAL LEGACIES AND DEMOCRATIC SURVIVAL By EMILY PUKUMA A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2017 © 2017 Emily Pukuma To Dzarnyi and Azilqwa ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am especially grateful to my advisor, Benjamin Smith, who provided the perfect combination of independence, allowing me the space to envision, research and write this dissertation, and availability to answer questions, advise on difficult areas, and provide feedback on numerous applications and dissertation drafts. He encouraged me to embrace the big question this research entails and to allow the question to dictate the research design needed to answer it. His guidance in key moments consistently gave the project renewed life. I would like to thank my dissertation committee members including Michael Bernhard, Leonardo Villalón, Badredine Arfi and Susan O’Brien for valuable assistance and helpful criticism and feedback throughout this process. I am grateful for my colleagues at the University of Florida who were always willing to read, discuss and provide feedback on my research. I am especially thankful for my Africanist colleagues Anna Mwaba, Chesney McOmber, Dan Eizenga and Mamadou Bodian. I am constantly inspired by their dedication, drive and passion to understand the politics on the continent. They are also kind, compassionate and humble people. Beyond our professional relationship, they have become some of my closest friends. I am thankful to the University of Florida Department of Political Science, Center for African Studies, Graduate School and College of Liberal Arts and Sciences as well as the Smith Richardson Foundation and National Security Education Program Boren Fellowship for providing generous funding to complete overseas research and write this dissertation. 4 I am grateful for my late grandfather, Ralph. His curiosity and work ethic continue to be a source of great inspiration. He would have been proud to see this project reach fruition. I would like to thank my parents, who provided unconditional love and support throughout my graduate program. They gave me the confidence to tackle seemingly impossible tasks and the strength to embrace obstacles before me. I am especially grateful to my mother and mother-in-law who provided both physical and emotional support during the period when early parenthood and graduate school coincided. I would like to thank my husband whose unwavering love, kindness and patience encouraged me to travel far and wide to conduct research and to embrace each challenge along the way. His confidence, sense of adventure and drive inspires me daily. Lastly, I would like to thank my daughter, whose smile brightens even the gloomiest days. 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...................................................................................................... 4 LIST OF TABLES .............................................................................................................. 10 LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................ 11 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................................... 12 ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................ 15 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 17 Project Summary ........................................................................................................ 17 Colonialism and Democratic Survival: State of the Literature ................................... 20 Conceptual Framework ............................................................................................... 26 Colonialism ........................................................................................................... 26 Democratic Survival ............................................................................................. 27 A Typology of British Colonial Institutions ........................................................... 28 A Colonial Legacy Theory of Democratic Survival..................................................... 33 2 A COLONIAL LEGACY THEORY OF DEMOCRATIC SURVIVAL ........................... 36 A Theory of British Colonial Types ............................................................................. 39 Democratic Institutional Experience .................................................................... 40 Administrative Development ................................................................................ 41 State-Society Relations ........................................................................................ 43 Strong Autonomy Colonies and Democratic Survival ................................................ 44 Weak Autonomy Colonies and Democratic Survival ................................................. 45 Strong Authoritarian Colonies and Democratic Survival ........................................... 46 Weak Authoritarian Colonies and Democratic Survival ............................................. 48 3 A SURVIVAL ANALYSIS OF DEMOCRATIC BREAKDOWN IN FORMER BRITISH COLONIES .................................................................................................. 52 Research Design ........................................................................................................ 56 Data and Measurement .............................................................................................. 57 Dependent Variable ............................................................................................. 57 Independent Variables ......................................................................................... 59 Additional Variables ............................................................................................. 62 Colonial Variables .......................................................................................... 63 Post-Colonial Variables ................................................................................. 64 Results ........................................................................................................................ 66 6 Post-Estimation ........................................................................................................... 76 Concluding Remarks .................................................................................................. 78 4 FROM INDEPENDENCE TO DEMOCRATIC BREAKDOWN: POLITICAL TRANSITIONS IN MALAYSIA .................................................................................... 92 A Theory of Strong Authoritarian Colonies and Democratic Survival ....................... 93 Condensed Independence Struggle and Limited Democratic Experience ............... 98 Pre-1945 Political Developments and Late Colonial Nationalisms...................101 The Alliance: Ad Hoc Partnership to National Party .........................................108 The Constitutional Bargain and the Inter-Communal Contract .........................110 Nature of the Bargain: The Alliance Formula ....................................................113 Concluding Remarks ..........................................................................................117 A Strong State and a Discouraged Society: A Case Study of the Politics of Education ...............................................................................................................118 Post-War Education Policies: Movement toward Independence ......................120 Educational Interest Groups and the Alliance Formula ....................................124 Post-Independence Debates, 1957-1969..........................................................129 Concluding Remarks ..........................................................................................135 Extensive Administrative Development: Legacies of the Emergency .....................136 Pre-World War II Political Design ......................................................................137 Bureaucratic Development.................................................................................138 Security Forces: Police and Military ..................................................................141 Direct Taxation and Government Revenue .......................................................143 Public Services ...................................................................................................144 Transportation and Communications.................................................................146 Concluding Remarks ..........................................................................................149 Riots and Repression: Democratic Breakdown in Malaysia ....................................150 The Campaign ....................................................................................................152 May 10: Election Results ...................................................................................159 May 13 Riots.......................................................................................................162 Government Response ......................................................................................163 Concluding Remarks 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