Elite pact

An elite pact or political settlement is an explicit agreement or agreed understanding between elites which moderates the violence and winner takes all nature of unrestrained conflict. The elites are often political elites, but in a research context of political economy, they can also be social and economic. Such settlements are often understood to transform government from an autocratic mode into more pluralistic, democratic form.^[2][3] Meanwhile, it is also a political economy framework to understand why sometimes an autocratic mode works whilst a democratic fails.^[4][5][6] Others may view the political settlement as normatively neutral.^[7]

King John signing the Magna Carta — the charter of rights of the powerful barons which has been described as "the greatest constitutional document of all times — the foundation of the freedom of the individual against the arbitrary authority of the despot".^[1]

This concept in political theory is part of elite theory and state-building. Joel Migdal has suggested that the concept of political settlements has a pedigree going back to the work of Barrington Moore. Political settlements are the frameworks for governing a state established by elites, either through formal processes or informally over time. There are numerous definitions of political settlements and elite pacts, often including an emphasis on understandings between elites that bring about the conditions to end conflict, or maintain peace. In 2011 the World Bank's World Development Report suggested a new terminology for political settlements with the concept of `good enough coalitions.'^[8]

Elite pacts can be explicitly articulated (enshrined in an evolving document – such as a peace agreement or a constitution).

Verena Fritz and Alina Rocha Menocal published a paper in 2007 arguing that political settlements are a `domain' at the heart of all state processes. They relate the concept to broader state theory (including the issues of elections and legitimacy). They stress that political settlements are not one-off events but evolve over time.^[9]

Important contributions on the establishing of political settlements in modern (particularly newly democratic) states have also been made by Thomas Carothers and Marina Ottaway of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Also of note is JC Scott's work `Seeing Like a State' which explores the routes through which political settlements in medieval Europe began to consolidate formal state structures.