How instability creates stability: the survival of democracy in Vanuatu

NWOVENI-451-16-028Institutions, Decisions and Collective Behaviou

Does Smallness Enhance Power-Sharing? Explaining Suriname’s Multiethnic Democracy

Pointing to a number of informal dynamics in small societies that are supposed to enhance cooperation and consensus, traditional studies on power-sharing posit that small states are ‘most likely’ candidates for stable, multiethnic democracy. These assumptions are, however, challenged by the case study literature on small states which highlights a variety of informal patterns that undermine democratic governance. Addressing this contradiction, the present paper provides an in-depth analysis of power-sharing politics in Suriname, a small, culturally heterogeneous country in South America that initially figured as a prominent case in consociational theory. The analysis reveals that the smallness of Suriname strongly affects and shapes the nature of democracy in the country. On the one hand, clientelism ensures that members of each ethnic group included in power-sharing arrangements have access to state resources and services, thus providing a large measure of political stability. On the other hand, clientelism undermines the functioning of multiethnic democracy by a host of negative side effects, among which economic and social dependency of citizens, executive dominance and authoritarian politics, endemic corruption that goes largely unpunished, and state predation by elites. The upshot is that whereas power-sharing arrangements in small societies might indeed be facilitated by a small population size, there is a heavy price to pay in terms of the quality of democracy.NWOVENI-451-16-028The Institutions of Politics; Design, Workings, and implications ( do not use, ended 1-1-2020

Party politics in the Principality of Liechtenstein

Institutions, Decisions and Collective Behaviou

When things get personal: how informal and personalized politics produce regime stability in small states

The personalization of politics, the decline of political parties and the weakening of political institutions in large democracies are considered to produce instability and to undermine democratic governance. Yet despite having extremely informal and personalized systems with non-ideological parties, small states around the world maintain significantly higher levels of democracy and regime stability than large ones. This article addresses this paradox by offering a systematic literature review of 167 case study publications on personalization and informal politics in 46 small states. The analysis reveals that personalized relations between political elites translate into either fragmentation or power concentration, while pervasive patron–client linkages structure the interaction between citizens and politicians. Despite the obvious downsides of these dynamics for democratic governance, the small state system is functional in the sense that it fulfils the needs of both citizens and politicians, which explains why small states have succeeded in maintaining their political stability.NWOVENI-451-16-028Institutions, Decisions and Collective Behaviou

How Smallness Fosters Clientelism: A Case Study of Malta

While it has long been assumed that smaller communities are more prone to particularistic politics, the relationship between state size and clientelism remains strongly undertheorized. Departing from the assumption that face-to-face contacts, overlapping role relations, stronger monitoring mechanisms, and the enhanced power of single votes contribute to the emergence of patron–client linkages, this article provides an in-depth case study of clientelism in Malta, the smallest member state of the European Union. The analysis reveals not only that patron–client linkages are a ubiquitous feature of political life in Malta, but also that the smallness of Malta strongly affects the functioning of clientelism by eliminating the need for brokers and enhancing the power of clients versus patrons. In addition, clientelism is found to be related to several other characteristics of Maltese politics, among which the sharp polarization between parties, extremely high turnout rates, profound executive dominance, and the incidence of corruption scandals.NWOVENI-451-16-028The Institutions of Politics; Design, Workings, and implications ( do not use, ended 1-1-2020

Iedereen Kent Iedereen: De Invloed van Kleinschaligheid en Informele Politiek op Bestuur in Caribisch Nederland

In 2010, the three Dutch Caribbean islands of Bonaire, St. Eustatius, and Saba (the BES islands) were constitutionally integrated into the Netherlands, and were administratively reorganized on the basis of the Dutch municipal model. While this reform was anticipated to mitigate some of the governance problems of these islands, so far this expectation has remained unmet. Using the literature on the effects of smallness on the relation between formal and informal politics as a baseline, this article investigates why the new institutional structure has so far not resulted in improved governance in the Caribbean Netherlands. On the basis of three stages of field research resulting in over forty semi-structured interviews with political elites on the three islands, the analysis highlights the influence of two contextual factors – the small scale and the political culture of the postcolonial Caribbean – that have a powerful, and in many ways negative, impact on governance performance. Subsequently, the article highlights the inapplicability of the Dutch municipal model to the Dutch Caribbean islands, and also pays attention to a number of differences between the three islands, which are explained on the basis of their divergent historical and demographic trajectories, as well as differences in individual leadership.The Institutions of Politics; Design, Workings, and implications ( do not use, ended 1-1-2020

Politics and democracy in microstates. A comparative analysis of the effects of size on contestation and inclusiveness

Why are small states statistically more likely to have democratic systems of government? By addressing this question from a qualitative, comparative methodological angle, this book analyzes the effects of a limited population size on politics and democracy. In line with the criteria of the most different systems design, the four microstates of San Marino, St. Kitts and Nevis, Seychelles, and Palau are compared on the basis of interviews with respondents from various societal and institutional backgrounds. The findings of this study indicate that in spite of their many other differences, politics and democracy in the four analyzed microstates is of a remarkably similar nature. Whereas a small population size may in some respects contribute to the quality of democracy, it also creates a number of political dynamics that undermine the functioning of democratic governmentLEI Universiteit LeidenThe Institutions of Politics; Design, Workings, and implications ( do not use, ended 1-1-2020

Head Versus Heart: Ambiguities of Non-Sovereignty in the Dutch Caribbean

Whereas political scientists tend to make binary distinctions between sovereign states and subnational units, in recent decades the number of a third, hybrid category of federacies or non-sovereign jurisdictions has strongly increased. In this paper, we explore the benefits and downsides of non-sovereignty from the perspective of these territories’ inhabitants. We zoom in on the six islands of the Dutch Caribbean, which in 2010 experienced a profound change in their political status. Using data from two large-scale opinion surveys that we conducted in 1998 and 2015, respectively, we show that the population of the Dutch Caribbean islands maintains a highly ambiguous attitude towards the non-sovereign status. While many respondents appreciate the material benefits of the enduring link with the metropolis, there are significant emotional and ideational objections to this relationship. These findings are embedded in broader scholarly discussions about the position of decentralized and peripheral jurisdictions vis-à-vis their administrative core.The Institutions of Politics; Design, Workings, and implications ( do not use, ended 1-1-2020

Politically correct consensus is not for me: an interview with Gert Oostindie

Institutions, Decisions and Collective Behaviou

The Challenges of Nation-Building and Nation Branding in Multi-Ethnic Suriname

This analysis of nation-building and nation branding in post-colonial, multi-ethnic Suriname builds on the notion that such policies are promising but also difficult to achieve in culturally divided societies. We zoom in on three episodes of nation-building and nation branding in the country and explain why and in what respects they succeeded or failed. We posit that in Suriname’s case, nation-building and nation branding are intertwined, because the latter cannot be seen in isolation from nation-building. In the Conclusion, we discuss the effects of colonial legacies in multi-ethnic societies on nation-building and nation branding.NWOVENI-451-16-028The Institutions of Politics; Design, Workings, and implications ( do not use, ended 1-1-2020