Online Archive of University of Virginia Scholarship
Post-Colonial Institutions in Central America780 views
Author
Fogarty, Andrew, Foreign Affairs - Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, University of Virginia
Advisors
Meng, Anne, Department of Politics, University of Virginia
Abstract
Why do otherwise very similar states develop different institutions? I investigate the determinants of state institutions using process tracing in five Central American states to uncover the causal mechanisms operating during post-colonial state building. I demonstrate that elite conflict drives the origins and persistence of institutions. Elite conflict has a differential impact on the information transmitted to rulers regarding the
extent of their political power and forms preferences over institutions. This research uses processing tracing because it allows for a more fine grained within-case analysis on the origins of institutions and the validation of causal mechanisms than other methods.
Fogarty, Andrew. Post-Colonial Institutions in Central America. University of Virginia, Foreign Affairs - Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, MA (Master of Arts), 2017-04-29, https://doi.org/10.18130/V39W7Q.
