Doctoral Dissertation Research: Democratization in Post-Colonial Societies: The Long-term Influences of Religion and Colonial Policy

在探索发展中国家政治民主的来源时，这个项目考察了宗教如何间接地促进了前英国殖民地的民主。 由于宗教团体在英国（和美国）殖民地获得了更多的独立性，他们在与殖民国家的政府打交道时有更多的权力为自己的利益而战。 例如，尽管大多数殖民地政府反对，英国殖民地的宗教团体提倡大众教育，以促进皈依。 这导致了殖民地国家的高识字率和成功的民主。 为了验证这些论点，该项目从传教士记录中收集了教育数据，并将这些数据与英国殖民地的数字化地图相结合。 它还收集和编码来自传教委员会的报告。 这些发现有助于确定不同殖民结果背后的机制，并有助于世界体系和文化帝国主义的文献。

In exploring the sources of political democracy in developing nations, this project examines how religion indirectly promoted democracy in former British colonies. Because religious groups gained more independence from state control in British (and American) colonies, they had more power to fight for their interests in dealing with governments in the colonizing nations. For example, despite the opposition of most colonial governments, religious groups in British colonies advocated mass education in order to foster conversion. This led to high literacy rates and successful democracies in the colonized countries. To test these arguments, the project gathers data on education from missionary records, and merges the data with digitalized maps of British colonies. It also collects and codes reports from missionary committees. The findings help identify the mechanisms behind diverse colonial outcomes and contribute to literature on world systems and cultural imperialism.