Elite Identity and Political Accountability: A Tale of Ten Islands

Abstract

Emancipation of slaves in the 1830s transformed the political elites of the British-Caribbean plantation islands.New elites were more accountable to the citizenry.We develop a theory in which two factors limit and possibly reverse the effect of this on political outcomes, with legislators (i) 'stepping up to pass extractive policies and/or (ii) weakening democratic institutions.The theory is supported by an historical analysis of ten Caribbean plantation islands, based on original archival data on legislator race, occupation and roll-call voting.Eventually, all assemblies that experienced a significant change in composition dissolved themselves and converted to British 'Crown Rule'.

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