The Origins of Elite Persistence: Evidence from Political Purges in post-World War II France *

Toke Aidt, Jean Lacroix and Pierre-Guillaume Méon
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Toke Aidt: Faculty of Economics - CAM - University of Cambridge [UK]

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Abstract: This paper studies a new mechanism that allows political elites from a non-democratic regime to survive a democratic transition: connections. We document this mechanism in the transition from the Vichy regime to democracy in post-World War II France. The parliamentarians who had supported the Vichy regime were purged in a two-stage process where each case was judged twice by two different courts. Using a difference-indifferences strategy, we show that Law graduates, a powerful social group in French politics with strong connections to one of the two courts, had a clearance rate that was 10 percentage points higher than others. This facilitated the persistence of that elite group. A systematic analysis of 17,589 documents from the defendants' dossiers is consistent with the hypothesis that the connections of Law graduates to one of the two courts were a major driver of their ability to avoid the purge. We consider and rule out alternative mechanisms.

Keywords: Purges; Political transitions; Elite persistence; Connections JEL Codes: D73; K40; N44; P48 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022-05-24
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-gro, nep-his, nep-pol and nep-soc
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-03677580
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Related works:
Working Paper: The Origins of Elite Persistence: Evidence from Political Purges in post-World War II France (2022)
Working Paper: The Origins of Elite Persistence: Evidence from Political Purges in Post-World War II France (2022)
Working Paper: The Origins of Elite Persistence: Evidence from Political Purges in post-World War II France (2022)
Working Paper: The Origins of Elite Persistence: Evidence from Political Purges in post-World War II France (2022)
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