Replication Data for: State First? A Disaggregation and Empirical Interrogation

This letter is the first to systematically scrutinize the multifaceted claim that a strong state promotes democratic development. Enlisting new Varieties of Democracy data from 1789 to 2015, we specify and examine no less than eight different versions of this ‘state-first’ argument in analyses that span the entire era of modern democracy. We document that high levels of bureaucratic quality at the time of the first democratic transition and during democratic spells are positively associated with democratic survival and deepening. By contrast, state capacity has no robust effects and does not condition the impact of bureaucratic quality. These findings underline the importance of particular features of a strong state but also the importance of a disaggregated approach. They imply that democratic development is better aided by strengthening the impartiality of bureaucratic organizations than by building capacity for territorial control.