Landholding Inequality and the Consolidation of Democracy: Evidence from Nineteenth-Century France

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS); CNRS - Institute for Humanities & Social Sciences (INSHS); IESEG School of Management; Universite de Lille
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC HISTORY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-0507
• DOI: 10.1017/S0022050723000013
• 发表日期: 2023
• 页码: 203-241
• 关键词: great reform act; democratization; extension; suffrage

摘要

In this article, I investigate the effect of landholding inequalities on the democratization process in nineteenth-century France. I focus on the 1849 election, which followed the establishment of the Second Republic (1848-1851), and on the first six elections of the Third Republic (1870-1940), which took place between 1876 and 1893. I find that stronger landholding inequalities were associated to a lower support for the Republicans, and therefore constituted a threat to the consolidation of democracy. I provide evidence that large landowners resisted the establishment of democracy by influencing the electoral behavior of economically dependent agricultural workers.