Includes bibliographical references and index. Papers developed over the course of three conferences held at NBER and Yale University between 2013 and 2014.
Contents:
Opening access, ending the violence trap: labor, business, government, and the National Labor Relations act / Margaret Levi, Tania Melo, Barry R. Weingast, and Frances Zlotnick. The East Indian monopoly and the transition from limited access in England, 1600-1813 / Dan Bogart -- Adam Smith's theory of violence and the political economics of development / Barry R. Weingast -- Pluralism without privilege? corps intermediaires, civil society, and the art of association / Jacob T. Levy -- Banks, politics, and political parties: from partisan banking to open access in early Massachusetts / Qian Lu and John Joseph Wallis -- Corporation law and the shift toward open access in the antebellum United States / Eric Hilt -- Organizational poisedness and the transformation of civic order in 19th-century New York City / Victoria Johnson and Walter W. Powell -- Voluntary associations, corporate rights, and the state: legal constraints on the development of American civil society, 1750-1900 / Ruth H. Bloch and Naomi R. Lamoreaux -- The right to associate and the rights of associations: civil-society organizations in Prussia, 1794-1908 / Richard Brooks and Timothy W. Guinnane -- Opening access, ending the violence trap: labor, business, government, and the National Labor Relations act / Margaret Levi, Tania Melo, Barry R. Weingast, and Frances Zlotnick.
Summary:
Modern developed nations are rich and politically stable in part because their citizens are free to form organizations and have access to the relevant legal resources. Yet in spite of the advantages of open access to civil organizations, it is estimated that eighty percent of people live in countries that do not allow unfettered access. Why have some countries disallow the formation of organizations as part of their economic and political system? The contributions to Organizations, Civil Society, and the Roots of Development seek to answer this question through an exploration of how developing nations throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, including the United States, United Kingdom, France, and Germany, made the transition to allowing their citizens the right to form organizations. The transition, contributors show, was not an easy one. Neither political changes brought about by revolution nor subsequent economic growth led directly to open access. In fact, initial patterns of change were in the opposite direction, as political coalitions restricted access to specific organizations for the purpose of maintaining political control. Ultimately, however, it became clear that these restrictions threatened the foundation of social and political order. Tracing the path of these modern civil societies, Organizations, Civil Society, and the Roots of Development is an invaluable contribution to all interested in today’s developing countries and the challenges they face in developing this organizational capacity.-- Provided by Publisher.
Series:
National bureau of economic research conference report
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.