Bulletin n. 2-3/2012
October 2012-February 2013
CONTENTS
  • Section A) The theory and practise of the federal states and multi-level systems of government
  • Section B) Global governance and international organizations
  • Section C) Regional integration processes
  • Section D) Federalism as a political idea
    • Inman Robert P., Rubinfeld Daniel L.
    Federal Institutions and the Democratic Transition: Learning from South Africa
    in Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization , Volume 28 Issue 4 October 2012 ,  2012 ,  783-817
    We present a model of a peaceful transition from autocracy to democracy using federal governance as a constitutional means to protect the economic interests of the once ruling elite. Under “democratic federalism,” the constitution creates an annual policy game where the new majority and the elite each control one policy instrument of importance to the other. The game has a stable stationary equilibrium that the elite may prefer to autocratic rule. We apply our analysis to South Africa’s transition from white, elite rule under apartheid to a multi-racial democracy. We calibrate our model to the South African economy at the time of the transition. Stable democratic equilibria exist for plausible estimates of redistributive preferences and rate of time preference (“impatience”) of the new majority during the early years of the new democracy. The future of the democratic federal bargain is less certain under the new populist presidency of Jacob Zuma.
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