Events

Abstract: As they built capacity and modernized, 19th-century states sought to standardize customary land tenure systems, making them legible. Was this process fully top-down, or impacted by local politics?

I investigate whether elections influenced how the French state centralized forest governance, in a context of partial democratization. The 1827 forest code attempted to modernize forest management and harshly restricted customary access to public forests. The reform were supported by several elite groups due to widespread deforestation, but opposed by forest-dependent populations, who actively resisted it.

I show that the forest code, despite aiming at uniformity, depended on the electoral support of local elites, and was thus unevenly enforced. 

Using a staggered difference-in-differences empirical strategy, I find that forest regulations were extended to more locations after government-aligned candidates gained legislative seats.  I find no electoral effect where local elites actively participated in past cadastral surveys, confirming the role of elite cooperation in building state capacity. Finally, I show that where the forest code was implemented, it led to significant population decline concentrated in the poorest communes.

The Political Science Seminar Series is convened by Desmond King and David Rueda For more information on this or any of the seminars in the series, please contact politics.secretary@nuffield.ox.ac.uk.