Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-c47g7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-19T12:37:46.861Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Long-Run Consequences of The Opium Concessions for Out-Group Animosity on Java

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 May 2022

Nicholas Kuipers
Nicholas Kuipers*
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA E-mail: nkuipers@berkeley.edu
Get access

Abstract

This article examines the consequences of the opium concession system in the Dutch East Indies—a nineteenth-century institution through which the Dutch would auction the monopolistic right to sell opium in a given locality. The winners of these auctions were invariably ethnic Chinese. The poverty of Java's indigenous population combined with opium's addictive properties meant that many individuals fell into destitution. The author argues that this institution put in motion a self-reinforcing arrangement that enriched one group and embittered the other with consequences that persist to the present day. Consistent with this theory, the author finds that individuals living today in villages where the opium concession system once operated report higher levels of out-group intolerance compared to individuals in nearby unexposed counterfactual villages. These findings improve the understanding of the historical conditions that structure antagonisms between competing groups.

Keywords

conflictethnic politicshistorical political economyIndonesiaJavaopium
Type
Research Article
Information
World Politics , Volume 74 , Issue 3 , July 2022 , pp. 405 - 442
Copyright
Copyright © 2022 Trustees of Princeton University

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Acemoglu, Daron, Johnson, Simon, and Robinson, James A.. 2001. “The Colonial Origins of Comparative Development: An Empirical Investigation.” American Economic Review 91, no. 5: 1369–1401. At http://doi.org/10.1257/aer.91.5.1369.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Acharya, Avidit, Blackwell, Matthew, and Sen, Maya. 2016. “The Political Legacy of American Slavery.” Journal of Politics 78, no. 3: 621–41. At http://doi.org/10.1086/686631.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Acharya, Avidit, Blackwell, Matthew, and Sen, Maya. 2018. Deep Roots: How Slavery Still Shapes Southern Politics. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Andersen, Robert, and Fetner, Tina. 2008. “Economic Inequality and Intolerance: Attitudes toward Homosexuality in 35 Democracies.” American Journal of Political Science 52, no. 4: 942–58. At http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5907.2008.00352.x.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bates, Robert H. 1974. “Ethnic Competition and Modernization in Contemporary Africa.” Comparative Political Studies 6, no. 4: 457–84. At http://doi.org/10.1177/001041407400600403.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blanton, Robert, Mason, T. David, and Athow, Brian. 2001. “Colonial Style and Post-Colonial Ethnic Conflict in Africa.” Journal of Peace Research 38, no. 4: 473–91. At http://doi.org/10.1177/0022343301038004005.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blattman, Christopher. 2009. “From Violence to Voting: War and Political Participation in Uganda.” American Political Science Review 103, no. 2: 231–47. At http://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055409090212.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carey, Peter. 1984. “Changing Javanese Perceptions of the Chinese Communities in Central Java, 1755–1825.” Indonesia 37: 1–47. At http://doi.org/10.2307/3350933.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cederman, Lars-Erik, Gleditsch, Kristian Skrede, and Buhaug, Halvard. 2013. Inequality, Grievances, and Civil War. New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cederman, Lars-Erik, Weidmann, Nils B., and Gleditsch, Kristian Skrede. 2011. “Horizontal Inequalities and Ethnonationalist Civil War: A Global Comparison.” American Political Science Review 105, no. 3: 478–95. At http://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055411000207.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Center for Global Economic History. n.d. “Government Revenue in the Netherlands East Indies 1821–1940.” At https://web.archive.org/web/20151008120217/http://www.cgeh.nl/list-datafiles, accessed March 9, 2022.Google Scholar
Chandra, Siddharth. 1999. “Colonial Policy, Wage Inequality, and the Birth of Nationalism: The Case of the Dutch East Indies.” Working Paper. At https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228457389_Colonial_Policy_Wage_Inequality_and_the_Birth_of_Nationalism_The_Case_of_the_Dutch_East_Indies, accessed March 8, 2022.Google Scholar
Chandra, Siddharth. 2002. “Race, Inequality, and Anti-Chinese Violence in the Netherlands Indies.” Explorations in Economic History 39, no. 1: 88–112. At http://doi.org/10.1006/exeh.2001.0777.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Christopher, Anthony J. 1988. “‘Divide and Rule’: The Impress of British Separation Policies.” Area 20, no. 3: 233–40. At https://www.jstor.org/stable/20002624.Google Scholar
Cirone, Alexandra, and Pepinsky, Thomas B.. Forthcoming. “Historical Persistence.” Annual Review of Political Science. At http://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-polisci-051120-104325.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cribb, Robert. 2000. Historical Atlas of Indonesia. New York, N.Y.: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cribb, Robert B., and Kahin, Audrey. 2004. Historical Dictionary of Indonesia. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press.Google Scholar
Dell, Melissa. 2010. “The Persistent Effects of Peru's Mining Mita.” Econometrica 78, no. 6: 1863–1903. At http://doi.org/10.3982/ECTA8121.Google Scholar
Diaz-Cayeros, Alberto. 2011. “Indian Identity, Poverty and Colonial Development in Mexico.” Paper presented at The Impact of Colonial and Post-Colonial Independence Institutions on Economic Development in Latin America Conference, Columbia University, March 3–4. At https://static1.squarespace.com/static/57f6cb64b8a79b39e0f70375/t/5bb54066f4e1fc70903d05a3/1538605162203/IndianIdentity.pdf, accessed March 4, 2022.Google Scholar
Diehl, F. W. 1993. “Revenue Farming and Colonial Finances in the Netherlands East Indies, 1816–1925.” In Butcher, John and Dick, Howard, eds., The Rise and Fall of Revenue Farming. New York, N.Y.: Springer.Google Scholar
Emerson, Rupert. 1937. Malaysia: A Study in Direct and Indirect Rule. New York, N.Y.: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Fealy, Greg, and McGregor, Katharine. 2010. “Nahdlatul Ulama and the Killings of 1965–66: Religion, Politics, and Remembrance.” Indonesia 89: 37–60. At https://www.jstor.org/stable/20798214.Google Scholar
Goscha, Christopher E. 2012. Going Indochinese: Contesting Concepts of Space and Place in French Indochina. Copenhagen, Denmark: NIAS Press.Google Scholar
Green, Donald P., Leong, Terence Y., Kern, Holger L., Gerber, Alan S., and Larimer, Christopher W.. 2009. “Testing the Accuracy of Regression Discontinuity Analysis Using Experimental Benchmarks.” Political Analysis 17, no. 4: 400–17. At http://doi.org/10.1093/pan/mpp018.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guardado, Jenny. 2018. “Office-Selling, Corruption, and Long-Term Development in Peru.” American Political Science Review 112, no. 4: 971–95. At http://doi.org/10.1017/S000305541800045X.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Horowitz, Donald. 1985. Ethnic Groups in Conflict. Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Imbens, Guido, and Kalyanaraman, Karthik. 2012. “Optimal Bandwidth Choice for the Regression Discontinuity Estimator.” Review of Economic Studies 79, no. 3: 933–59. At http://doi.org/10.1093/restud/rdr043.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Iyer, Lakshmi. 2010. “Direct versus Indirect Colonial Rule in India: Long-Term Consequences.” Review of Economics and Statistics 92, no. 4: 693–713. At http://doi.org/10.1162/REST_a_00023.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jha, Saumitra. 2013. “Trade, Institutions, and Ethnic Tolerance: Evidence from South Asia.” American Political Science Review 107, no. 4: 806–32. At http://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055413000464.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaart van den Indischen Archipel: Aangevende de Bestaanden Toestand met Betrekking tot de Gouvernementsmonopolien van Opium en Zout. 1882. The Hague, Netherlands: Smulders. At http://hdl.handle.net/1887.1/item:2012665, accessed March 8, 2022.Google Scholar
Kahin, George McTurnan. 1952. Nationalism and Revolution in Indonesia. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Kartodirdjo, Sartono. 1973. Protest Movements in Rural Java: A Study of Agrarian Unrest in the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries. New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Kim, Diana S. 2020. Empires of Vice: The Rise of Opium Prohibition across Southeast Asia. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Kohli, Atul. 1994. “Where Do High Growth Political Economies Come From? The Japanese Lineage of Korea's ‘Developmental State.’” World Development 22, no. 9: 1269–93. At http://doi.org/10.1016/0305-750X(94)90004-3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kuipers, Nicholas. 2022. “Replication Files for: The Long-Run Consequences of the Opium Concessions for Outgroup Animosity on Java.” Harvard Dataverse, V1. At https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/D6IBFJ.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lechler, Marie, and McNamee, Lachlan. 2018. “Indirect Colonial Rule Undermines Support for Democracy: Evidence from a Natural Experiment in Namibia.” Comparative Political Studies 51, no. 14: 1858–98. At http://doi.org/10.1177/0010414018758760.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lupu, Noam, and Peisakhin, Leonid. 2017. “The Legacy of Political Violence across Generations.” American Journal of Political Science 61, no. 4: 836–51. At http://doi.org/10.1111/ajps.12327.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mahoney, James. 2010. Colonialism and Postcolonial Development: Spanish America in Comparative Perspective. New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mattingly, Daniel C. 2017. “Colonial Legacies and State Institutions in China: Evidence from a Natural Experiment.” Comparative Political Studies 50, no. 4: 434–63. At http://doi.org/10.1177/0010414015600465.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCauley, John F. 2014. “The Political Mobilization of Ethnic and Religious Identities in Africa.” American Political Science Review 108, no. 4: 801–16. At http://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055414000410.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Michalopoulos, Stelios, and Papaioannou, Elias. 2013. “Pre-Colonial Ethnic Institutions and Contemporary African Development.” Econometrica 81, no. 1: 113–52. At http://doi.org/10.3982/ECTA9613.Google ScholarPubMed
Mietzner, Marcus, Muhtadi, Burhanuddin, and Halida, Rizka. 2018. “Entrepreneurs of Grievance: Drivers and Effects of Indonesia's Islamist Mobilization.” Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land -en Volkenkunde/Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences of Southeast Asia 174, no. 2–3: 159–87. At http://doi.org/10.1163/22134379-17402026.Google Scholar
Morrock, Richard. 1973. “Heritage of Strife: The Effects of Colonialist ‘Divide and Rule’ Strategy upon the Colonized Peoples.” Science & Society 37, no. 2: 129–51. At https://www.jstor.org/stable/40401707.Google Scholar
Nunn, Nathan, and Wantchekon, Leonard. 2011. “The Slave Trade and the Origins of Mistrust in Africa.” American Economic Review 101, no. 7: 3221–52. At http://doi.org/10.1257/aer.101.7.3221.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Østby, Gudrun. 2008. “Polarization, Horizontal Inequalities and Violent Civil Conflict.” Journal of Peace Research 45, no. 2: 143–62. At http://doi.org/10.1177/0022343307087169.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Posner, Daniel N. 2005. Institutions and Ethnic Politics in Africa. New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Raffles, Thomas Stamford. 1817. The History of Java, vol. 1. London, UK: Black, Parbury, and Allen.Google Scholar
Ricklefs, M. C. 2008. A History of Modern Indonesia since c. 1200, 4th ed. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Rush, James R. 1983. “Social Control and Influence in Nineteenth Century Indonesia: Opium Farms and the Chinese of Java.” Indonesia 35: 53–64. At http://doi.org/10.2307/3350865.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rush, James R. 1985. “Opium in Java: A Sinister Friend.” Journal of Asian Studies 44, no. 3: 549–60. At http://doi.org/10.2307/2056267.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rush, James R. 1990. Opium to Java: Revenue Farming and Chinese Enterprise in Colonial Indonesia, 1860–1910. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Scheltema, J. F. 1907. “The Opium Trade in the Dutch East Indies. I.” American Journal of Sociology 13, no. 1: 79–112. At http://doi.org/10.1086/211563.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simpser, Alberto, Slater, Dan, and Wittenberg, Jason. 2018. “Dead But Not Gone: Contemporary Legacies of Communism, Imperialism, and Authoritarianism.” Annual Review of Political Science 21: 419–39. At http://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-polisci-062615-020900.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thelen, Kathleen. 1999. “Historical Institutionalism in Comparative Politics.” Annual Review of Political Science 2: 369–404. At http://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.polisci.2.1.369.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Turner, Sarah. 2003. “Setting the Scene Speaking Out: Chinese Indonesians after Suharto.” Asian Ethnicity 4, no. 3: 337–52. At http://doi.org/10.1080/1343900032000117187.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van Klaveren, J. J. 1953. The Dutch Colonial System in the East Indies. New York, N.Y.: Springer.Google Scholar
Vogt, Manuel. 2018. “Ethnic Stratification and the Equilibrium of Inequality: Ethnic Conflict in Postcolonial States.” International Organization 72, no. 1: 105–37. At http://doi.org/10.1017/S0020818317000479.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wahid, Abdul. 2013. “From Revenue Farming to State Monopoly: The Political Economy of Taxation in Colonial Indonesia, 1816–1942.” Ph.D. diss., Utrecht University, Netherlands. At https://dspace.library.uu.nl/handle/1874/285030, accessed March 14, 2022.Google Scholar
Wahid, Abdul. 2020. “‘Madat Makan Orang’: Opium Eats People: Opium Addiction as a Public Health Issue in Late Colonial Java, 1900–1940.” Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 51, no. 1–2: 25–48. At http://doi.org/10.1017/S0022463420000247.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilfahrt, Martha. 2018. “Precolonial Legacies and Institutional Congruence in Public Goods Delivery: Evidence from Decentralized West Africa.” World Politics 70, no. 2 (April): 239–74. At http://doi.org/10.1017/S0043887117000363.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilkinson, Steven I. 2004. Votes and Violence: Electoral Competition and Ethnic Riots in India. New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supplementary material: Link

Kuipers Dataset

Dataset

https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/D6IBFJ
Link
Supplementary material: PDF

Kuipers supplementary material

Kuipers supplementary material

Download Kuipers supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 2.7 MB