File(s) under permanent embargo
Can extreme rainfall trigger democratic change? The role of flood-induced corruption
journal contribution
posted on 2017-06-01, 00:00 authored by Md Habibur Rahman, Nejat AnbarciNejat Anbarci, Prasad BhattacharyaPrasad Bhattacharya, Mehmet UlubasogluMehmet UlubasogluUsing a new dataset of extreme rainfall covering 130 countries from 1979 to 2009, this paper investigates whether and how extreme rainfall-driven flooding affects democratic conditions. Our key finding indicates that extreme rainfall-induced flooding exerts two opposing effects on democracy. On one hand, flooding leads to corruption in the chains of emergency relief distribution and other post-disaster assistance, which in turn impels the citizenry to demand more democracy. On the other hand, flooding induces autocratic tendencies in incumbent regimes because efficient post-disaster management with no dissent, chaos or plunder might require government to undertake repressive actions. The net estimated effect is an improvement in democratic conditions.
History
Journal
Public choiceVolume
171Issue
3-4Pagination
331 - 358Publisher
SpringerLocation
New York, N.Y.Publisher DOI
ISSN
0048-5829eISSN
1573-7101Language
engPublication classification
C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal; C Journal articleCopyright notice
2017, SpringerUsage metrics
Categories
No categories selectedKeywords
Licence
Exports
RefWorks
BibTeX
Ref. manager
Endnote
DataCite
NLM
DC