No Colonial Working Class, No Post-Colonial Development: a Comparative-Historical Analysis of Two Oil-Rich Countries

Edwards, Zophia

doi:10.1007/s12116-017-9255-9

Cited by 5 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…The less-repressive state in Trinidad and Tobago allowed the development of a more cohesive working class which, in turn, influenced the development of the state bureaucracy into one characterized by more professionalism and less corruption compared to its West African counterpart. While Edwards focuses on how each working class evolved in these two states as a direct result of union strength and cohesion, she recognizes how the differing levels of repression influenced each union movement’s ability to press for change (Edwards 2018, 489).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Trinidad and Tobago, meanwhile, observes a labor share of income that while still relatively low, is 6 percentage points higher than Gabon and has a much higher mean Polity score 7 as opposed to Gabon's -5. I draw on case study analysis by Zophia Edwards that compares both nations, focusing on the relationship between politics and labor regulations in these two oil-rich states (Edwards 2018).…”

Section: Regime Type Labor and Labor Share Of Incomementioning

confidence: 99%

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Democracy, Labor’s Share of Income, and Labor Supply: A Time-Series Cross-Sectional Analysis

Brown

2022

Political Research Quarterly

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This paper examines democracy’s impact on the labor share of income: the share of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) dedicated to wages, salaries, and benefits. I hypothesize democratic regimes afford labor the opportunity to increase its share of national income. While previous empirical work finds cross-sectional evidence for the hypothesis, this paper employs a time-series cross-sectional analysis using data for 119 countries between 1950 and 2017, indicating the labor share of income is higher in democratic countries. The estimates are robust to different specifications of the statistical model. This paper also examines a potential causal mechanism that links democracy to a higher labor share through the supply of labor (the average number of hours worked in the economy). The relationship between democracy and the supply of labor lends additional evidence to my hypothesis. In a world characterized by diverging democracy, the results imply the path countries choose between democracy and dictatorship matters.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Regime Type Labor and Labor Share Of Incomementioning

confidence: 99%

Democracy, Labor’s Share of Income, and Labor Supply: A Time-Series Cross-Sectional Analysis

Brown

2022

Political Research Quarterly

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“…The origins of developmental state structures have been traced to the form of colonial rule imposed upon a colonized territory (Kohli 2004; see also Lange 2009; Mahoney 2010). However, in other cases, including Trinidad and Tobago, industrial policies and state structures in the postcolonial period departed to some degree from those of the colonial state (Vu 2007; Edwards 2017, 2018). In these cases, mass-based movements and organizations that challenged imperial, colonial, and racial domination have been central to altering the state’s involvement in the economy.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In answering the call to address these weaknesses, more recent scholarship looks beyond the relationship between political elites and the capitalist class and shows that the relationship between political elites and the masses has been consequential to state structures and policies. Working class movements (Edwards 2017, 2018; Perry 2018, 2022; Teichman 2019) and “restive popular sectors” (Doner et al 2005) have pushed state elites to alter industrial policy and construct more developmental institutions. How elites respond to each other (such as alliances or fragmentation) and to challenges from mass movements also determines the degree of state cohesion (Vu 2010) and durability of authoritarian regimes (Slater 2010).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“Power to the People!”: The Catalytic Role of the Black Power Movement in Trinidad and Tobago’s Industrialization

Perry,

Edwards

2023

Soc. sci. hist.

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Recent developmental state research highlights state-society configurations and contentious politics in shaping industrialization. Still, much of this work focuses on East Asia and tends to sidestep racialized labor exploitation, imperialism, and uneven incorporation into the global capitalist system through the trans-Atlantic slave trade and colonialism as important drivers. Through an historical analysis of Trinidad and Tobago, this paper examines how interventionist industrial policies emerged out of such structures and conditions. It highlights the role of anti-imperial and anti-racist struggles exemplified by the Black Power Movement in Trinidad and Tobago – a social movement comprising workers, marginalized youth, and civic leaders, which sought to overturn a colonial economy, reconfigure hierarchical race relations, address economic injustices, promote democratically negotiated industrialization, and chart a new course for a post-independent, multiracial Trinidad and Tobago. Utilizing archival data, this paper argues that Trinidad and Tobago’s government shifted from a passive industrial strategy characteristic of the colonial era to a more active approach from 1970 to 1984 largely in response to forceful demands and demonstrations by the Black Power Movement, which, in turn, led to improved social conditions, nationalization of key industries, the creation of state-owned enterprises, new skills and technological investments, and more. These findings advance developmental state theory by specifying the heretofore largely unacknowledged role of racial justice and anti-imperialist social movements in bringing about a different path from the East Asian model toward industrial and social transformation.

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“…Representation and participation should empower those at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder, but they often do not (Gilens, 2012). Indeed, the workers at the lower rungs of the occupational ladder are essential to economic development, but their contributions are overlooked (Edwards, 2018).…”

Section: Mass Discoordinationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Politics and Inequality in Comparative Perspective: A Research Agenda

López

Dubrow

2020

American Behavioral Scientist

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Democracy’s normative foundation is political equality. Yet the dominance of the elite over the masses, and the systematic exclusion of particular social and economic groups from the influence on, and outcomes of, important decisions, manifests in political inequality. If this situation is normatively intolerable, why does political inequality endure? We build on the theoretical and empirical literature of politics and inequality and the collection of articles in this special issue to argue that the reproduction of political inequality within and across nations and time results from two key interrelated mechanisms: elite coordination and mass discoordination. We discuss how these mechanisms shape patterns of contestation and participation that reproduce inequalities in both old and new democracies.

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No Colonial Working Class, No Post-Colonial Development: a Comparative-Historical Analysis of Two Oil-Rich Countries

Cited by 5 publications

References 47 publications

Democracy, Labor’s Share of Income, and Labor Supply: A Time-Series Cross-Sectional Analysis

Democracy, Labor’s Share of Income, and Labor Supply: A Time-Series Cross-Sectional Analysis

“Power to the People!”: The Catalytic Role of the Black Power Movement in Trinidad and Tobago’s Industrialization

Politics and Inequality in Comparative Perspective: A Research Agenda

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