Agricultural Mechanization, Moore's Thesis, and Rural Elites' Attitudes toward Democracy in Asia

David J. Samuels ； Henry Thomson

《Taiwan Journal of Democracy》 17卷1期 (2021/07) Pp. 1-20

摘要

Conventional wisdom assumes that rural elites oppose democratization. However, because agricultural mechanization reduces farmers' demand for labor, it also reduces their need for autocratic coercion to control the supply, mobility, and price of agricultural workers. That is, the adoption of laborsaving technology can alter agrarian elites' political preferences. Specifically, farmers who have mechanized production should be relatively favorable toward democracy compared to those who have not. We test this proposition at the individual level using Asia Barometer surveys in eight East and Southeast Asian countries that include questions about both attitudes toward democracy and agricultural machinery ownership. Results support our main claim that tractor-owning farmers are more supportive of democracy than their non-tractor-owning counterparts. Mechanization is also associated with greater support for the proposition that democracy should entail investment in public goods that foster employment opportunities. These results provide insight into how technological change could challenge longstanding assumptions about the political preferences of rural elites around the world.

關鍵字

Agriculture ； democracy ； democratization ； mechanization ； rural elites

參考文獻

David J. Samuels and Henry Thomson, “Lord, Peasant... and Tractor? Agricultural Mechanization, Moore’s Thesis, and the Emergence of Democracy,” Perspectives on Politics, forthcoming, https://doi.org/10.1017/S1537592720002303 (accessed March 19, 2021)

Ronald Inglehart, “How Solid Is Mass Support for Democracy: And How Can We Measure It?” PS: Political Science and Politics 36, no. 1 (2003): 51-57.

Gabriel A. Almond and Sidney Verba, The Civic Culture: Political Attitudes and Democracy in Five Nations (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1963).

Michael Bratton and Robert Mattes, “Support for Democracy in Africa: Intrinsic or Instrumental?” British Journal of Political Science 31, no. 3 (2001): 447-474

Yun-han Chu, Michael Bratton, Marta Lagos, Sandeep Shastri, and Mark Tessler, “Public Opinion and Democratic Legitimacy,” Journal of Democracy 19, no. 2 (2008): 75-87.