Awards

• Winner of Winner, 2023 ISA ENMISA Distinguished Book Award.
• Winner of Winner, 2024 Peter Katzenstein Book Prize Winner, 2024 W.E.B. Distinguished book award, National Conference of Black Political Scientists Winner, 2023 ISA ENMISA Distinguished Book Award.
• Winner of Winner, 2024 W.E.B. Distinguished book award, National Conference of Black Political Scientists Winner, 2023 ISA ENMISA Distinguished Book Award.

Overview

An examination of the divergent developmental legacies of forced settlement and colonial occupation on both sides of the Black Atlantic world. The European powers that colonized much of the world over the last few hundred years created a variety of social systems in their various colonies. In Ruling Emancipated Slaves and Indigenous Subjects, Olukunle P. Owolabi explores the divergent developmental trajectories of Global South nations that were shaped by forced settlement, where European colonists imported African slaves to establish large-scale agricultural plantations, or by colonial occupation, which resulted in the exploitation of indigenous non-white populations. Owolabi shows that most forced settlement colonies emerged from European domination with higher levels of education attainment, greater postcolonial democratization, and favorable human development outcomes relative to Global South countries that emerged from colonial occupation after 1945. To explain this paradox, he examines the distinctive legal-administrative institutions that were used to control indigenous colonial subjects and highlights the impact of liberal reforms that expanded the legal rights and political agency of former slaves following abolition. Spanning three centuries of colonial history and postcolonial development, this is the first book to systematically examine the distinctive patterns of state-building that resulted from forced settlement and colonial occupation in the Black Atlantic world.

Full Product Details

9780197673034

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Reviews

Olukunle Owolabi, in his eye-opening treatise, describes what generations of development economists did not see, namely that countries populated by slaves of forced settlement have brought peace, prosperity, and democracy far outpacing countries of colonial occupation. He then explains why, showing the returns to emancipation and citizenship. My hat off to Owolabi for opening our eyes to what has long been obscured by academic prejudices. * David D. Laitin, Stanford University * Owolabi demonstrates that forced-settlement colonies are a distinctive form of colonial rule, fostering economic and political trajectories that diverge from-and surpass-the trajectories of other formerly extractive colonies. This counter-intuitive finding offers an important corrective to usual understandings of colonialism and development. * John Gerring, Professor, Department of Government, UT Austin * This fantastic new book is a major contribution to the literature on colonialism and development. It delivers a much-needed analysis of the legacies of plantation slavery as imposed by the British and French during the first wave of colonialism. Owolabi skillfully and convincingly uses multimethod tools to reveal how postcolonial liberal reforms partially undermined this legacy and surprisingly redirected the planation-slavery colonies toward development. By contrast, those regions that avoided early colonialism met a worse fate: they were subject to native-legal codes during a second wave of colonialism, setting them on paths of failed development. This original and eye-opening argument merits wide attention among social scientists and historians. * James Mahoney, Northwestern University * In this book, Owolabi asks an intriguing question and, through an impressive multimethod analysis of several former empires, offers a compelling answer linked to the institutional legacies of colonialism. Ruling Emancipated Slaves and Indigenous Subjects is a must-read for any scholar interested in the long-term impact of colonialism. * Matthew Lange, Professor of Sociology, McGill University * A bold, provocative, and persuasive account of the lasting effects of colonial rule. Longue duree arguments are exceedingly difficult to make yet Ruling Emancipated Slaves and Indigenous Subjects delivers on its ambitious goal: to show the importance of emancipation during the colonial era for post-colonial development and democratization. * Adria Lawrence, author of Imperial Rule and the Politics of Nationalism: Anti-Colonial Protest in the French Empire * This excellent book rethinks the consequences of extractive colonial institutions. Analyzing the importance of early legal rights, Owolabi explains the puzzle of why countries in the West Indies have experienced better development outcomes than those in West Africa. This book is a must read for anyone interested in colonialism, development, and democracy. * Jack Paine, Associate Professor of Political Science, Emory University *

This fantastic new book is a major contribution to the literature on colonialism and development. Owolabi addresses the puzzle of why the early colonies with planation slavery often ended up with relatively high levels of development. Owolabi skillfully uses multimethod tools to make an eye-opening argument that merits wide attention among social scientists and historians. * James Mahoney, Northwestern University * Olukunle Owolabi, in his eye-opening treatise, describes what generations of development economists did not see, namely that countries populated by slaves of forced settlement have brought peace, prosperity, and democracy far outpacing countries of colonial occupation. He then explains why, showing the returns to emancipation and citizenship. My hat off to Owolabi for opening our eyes to what has long been obscured by academic prejudices. * David D. Laitin, Stanford University * Owolabi demonstrates that forced-settlement colonies are a distinctive form of colonial rule, fostering economic and political trajectories that diverge from-and surpass-the trajectories of other formerly extractive colonies. This counter-intuitive finding offers an important corrective to usual understandings of colonialism and development. * John Gerring, Professor, Department of Government, University of Texas at Austin * In this book, Owolabi asks an intriguing question and, through an impressive multimethod analysis of several former empires, offers a compelling answer linked to the institutional legacies of colonialism. Ruling Emancipated Slaves and Indigenous Subjects is a must-read for any scholar interested in the long-term impact of colonialism. * Matthew Lange, Professor of Sociology, McGill University * A bold, provocative, and persuasive account of the lasting effects of colonial rule. Longue duree arguments are exceedingly difficult to make yet Ruling Emancipated Slaves and Indigenous Subjects delivers on its ambitious goal: to show the importance of emancipation during the colonial era for post-colonial development and democratization. * Adria Lawrence, author of Imperial Rule and the Politics of Nationalism: Anti-Colonial Protest in the French Empire * This excellent book rethinks the consequences of extractive colonial institutions. Analyzing the importance of early legal rights, Owolabi explains the puzzle of why countries in the West Indies have experienced better development outcomes than those in West Africa. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in colonialism, development, and democracy. * Jack Paine, Associate Professor of Political Science, Emory University *

Author Information

Olukunle P. Owolabi is an associate professor of political science at Villanova University, where he teaches courses on Comparative Politics, African Politics, comparative democratization, and the developmental legacies of colonialism. His research examines the developmental legacies of forced settlement and colonial occupation in the Global South and has been published in Comparative Politics. He holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of Notre Dame, and an M.Phil in Latin American studies from Oxford University.

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