Hostname: page-component-89b8bd64d-dvtzq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-05-05T14:03:53.879Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Missionary Roots of Liberal Democracy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 May 2012

ROBERT D. WOODBERRY*
Affiliation:
National University of Singapore
*
Robert D. Woodberry is Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, National University of Singapore AS1, #04–10 Arts LinkSingapore117570 (polv48@nus.edu.sg; until July 2012, contact at bobwood@austin.utexas.edu).

Abstract

This article demonstrates historically and statistically that conversionary Protestants (CPs) heavily influenced the rise and spread of stable democracy around the world. It argues that CPs were a crucial catalyst initiating the development and spread of religious liberty, mass education, mass printing, newspapers, voluntary organizations, and colonial reforms, thereby creating the conditions that made stable democracy more likely. Statistically, the historic prevalence of Protestant missionaries explains about half the variation in democracy in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Oceania and removes the impact of most variables that dominate current statistical research about democracy. The association between Protestant missions and democracy is consistent in different continents and subsamples, and it is robust to more than 50 controls and to instrumental variable analyses.

Information

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

Supplementary material: File

Woodberry supplementary material

Supplementary tables

Download Woodberry supplementary material(File)
File 1.1 MB
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.