This letter questions Woodberry's (2012) claim linking conversionary Protestantism to stable democracies globally. By using 26 alternative democracy measures and averaging data over a longer time period, the analysis finds no significant relationship between missions and democratization.
Methodological Challenges:
* Employed multiple independent democracy indicators instead of relying on one
* Extended timeframe for measuring democratic outcomes
Findings:
The replication fails to support Woodberry's original results. The evidence does not demonstrate a connection between Protestant mission activity and the establishment or stability of democracies.
Robustness Concerns:
This lack of finding raises questions about the overall robustness and broad applicability of Woodberry's research.
| Conversionary Protestants Do Not Cause Democracy was authored by Jakub Polansky and Elena Nikolova. It was published by Cambridge in BJPS in 2021. |
