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  5. Connections During Democratic Transitions: Insights from the Political Purge in Post-WWII France

òòò½Íø Journal:
Economic Policy

ISSN 1945-7731 (Print) | ISSN 1945-774X (Online)

Connections During Democratic Transitions: Insights from the Political Purge in Post-WWII France

  • Toke S. Aidt
  • Jean Lacroix
  • Pierre-Guillaume Méon
òòò½Íø Journal: Economic Policy (Forthcoming)

Abstract

We examine how connections shaped transitional justice during France’s post-WWII democratic transition. Parliamentarians who had supported the Vichy regime faced a two-stage purge process involving two courts. Using a difference-in-differences strategy, we find that Law graduates – an influential group with ties to one of the courts – had a 10 to 14 percentage point higher acquittal rate. We analyze 17,589 documents in individual defendants’ files to explain this difference. According to this analysis, indirect connections – connections through third parties – enabled transmission of information to the judges, highlighting how connected elite groups can navigate transitions despite institutional safeguards.

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