A Demographic-Economic Explanation of Political Stability: Mauritius as a Microcosm

bibliographic database
Line

Periodical article

Title:	A Demographic-Economic Explanation of Political Stability: Mauritius as a Microcosm
Author:	Lempert, David
Year:	1987
Periodical:	Eastern Africa Economic Review
Volume:	3
Issue:	1
Period:	June
Pages:	77-90
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Mauritius
Subjects:	political stability Politics and Government Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) Economics and Trade
Abstract:	This paper examines current models of economic and political development - social modernization theory, political and economic characteristics of stable regimes, and cross country analysis of political stability - and tests them on the Indian Ocean Island of Mauritius. The analysis continues with a causal explanation for political stability in Mauritius' recent history, derived from an examination of economic policies and demographic patterns. Political change in Mauritius over the past sixty years seems to be explained best by a model for political stability which integrates specific economic and demographic factors. The model revises Malthus' conclusion that population and economic conditions move in an oscillatory relationship and replaces it with a more comprehensive theory, suggesting that political stability is a function of both economic development and a repeating cyclical relationship between economics and population. Bibliogr.