Comparative Political Studies

Since the collapse of the command economy in the 1990s, North Korea has experienced profound changes driven by bottom-up marketization. This paper examines the impact of informal marketization on “social capital” (defined as shared norms and social networks) in North Korea. Our study investigates whether and to what extent the shadow economy has influenced social capital in the region. We gathered data through a survey of 1309 defectors, interviews with approximately 100 defectors, and in-depth interviews with 24 former high-ranking North Korean officials. Both quantitative tests and qualitative analyses indicate a significant transformation of social capital in North Korea. The traditional “old” social capital, which was previously centered around official workplaces, has diminished. In its place, a “new” social capital has emerged, primarily revolving around marketplaces in recent years. The shadow economy has been instrumental in fostering this new type of social capital, influencing both the “bonding” (shared norms) and “bridging” (social networks) aspects. Despite the emergence of a new social capital facilitated by bottom-up marketization, its evolution into a civil society remains uncertain due to two critical limitations: a lack of both civic engagement and social autonomy.

In Africa, missionaries used schooling to gain adherents. We study how historical missionary activity shaped long-run education and political development across regime types. We exploit plausibly exogenous variation in exposure to Catholic missionaries generated by their territorial administration system. Using a regression discontinuity design, we show that proximity to historical diocese headquarters generally led to an increased presence of Catholic missionaries, as well as long-term positive effects on Catholic identity and educational outcomes. The effects on political outcomes vary by regime type. Only individuals exposed to greater historical missionary activity in open anocracies—relative to those in democracies and closed anocracies—are more likely to participate in politics. Moreover, they are also the only ones who are more engaged, supportive of democratic institutions, and disenchanted with the state of democracy and incumbent in their countries.

All political regimes rely on coalitions of supporters to govern and remain in power. We discuss, specify, and test arguments pertaining to how the numerical size as well as social diversity of regime support coalitions influence regime longevity. We use recently collected data on support coalition characteristics, with global coverage and time series exceeding 230 years, and find that larger as well as more diverse regime support coalitions are positively related to regime longevity. Both patterns hold up in different time periods and in sub-samples including only autocratic regimes. We also discuss and find indications that increased coalition size may limit certain types of regime breakdown (e.g., from popular uprisings) but not others (e.g., coups). Coalition diversity is negatively related to different types of regime breakdown, and these patterns may reflect that diverse coalitions offer regimes access to variegated power resources that enable them to mitigate different threats.

Collective recognition of indigenous claims to land and traditional authority has advanced rapidly in recent decades in many countries. How do these processes impact identity and decision-making among individuals within communities themselves? I examine this in Peru, where the government has recognized thousands of indigenous communities covering one-third of the national territory. I leverage spatial and temporal variation in community recognition paired with detailed household survey data and find, using age cohort analysis, that the effects vary by generation in ways shaped by land access and scarcity. Experiencing recognition increases community self-identification and community membership. But the effects are strongest among adults and near-adults at the time of recognition, who are best positioned to win greater access to scarce community land and invest in community life immediately post-recognition. Younger generations born into recognized communities are less tied to their communities but also fare better economically, suggesting shifting intergenerational effects.