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Title: | Probing the historical sources of the Mauritian miracle: sugar exporters and State building in colonial Mauritius |
Author: | Saylor, Ryan |
Year: | 2012 |
Periodical: | Review of African Political Economy (ISSN 0305-6244) |
Volume: | 39 |
Issue: | 133 |
Pages: | 465-478 |
Language: | English |
Geographic term: | Mauritius |
Subjects: | State-society relationship economic policy State formation exports sugar colonial period |
External link: | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03056244.2012.710835 |
Abstract: | Scholars increasingly agree that the 'Mauritian Miracle' was enabled by the country's significant level of State capacity. The author probes Mauritius's State-building past to identify the early sources of Mauritian State capacity. Specifically, he finds that the close collaboration between the island's export-oriented sugar planters, known as the Franco-Mauritians, and colonial officials accounts for the growth of Mauritian State capacity during the nineteenth century. Following the island's first major commodity boom, in 1825, sugar planters pressed colonial officials to 'regulate' the island's labour supply, improve its transportation infrastructure, and undertake research and development initiatives. These efforts collectively promoted the growth of State capacity and laid the groundwork for the country's relatively capable State. The influence of Mauritius's export-oriented coalition on State building may shed light on the country's comparative success to other African countries, where export-oriented coalitions have been rare both historically and in the contemporary era. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract] |