By Jonathan Doucette and Jørgen Møller For almost a thousand years, the Latin west (Western and Central Europe) has been fragmented in two ways: First, it has been divided into numerous competing political units; second, these units have themselves been internally divided, rulers co-existing and interacting with strong social groups such as the clergy, the … Continue reading The Monks who Made Europe
Scholars of state capacity and ethnic politics rarely talk to each other. Yet ethnic identity plays an important role in the development of state institutions, as highlighted in a number of recent posts.[1] In a brand-new World Politics article,[2] I contribute to the scholarship on the relationship between ethnic identity and state building by highlighting … Continue reading Identity and State Capacity: Religious Discrimination in Late-imperial Russia
A growingly body of scholarship has examined the impact of religious beliefs and institutions on economic development. Several influential studies have probed the impact of religion on human capital through a focus on the role of Protestantism in Europe, Catholicism in France, and Christian missionaries in former colonies. This expanding literature on religion and development … Continue reading Religious Elites and the Political Economy of Development
How did the state arise in Europe? The canonical answer is Charles Tilly’s: “war made the state and the state made war.” The starting point is the fragmentation of territorial political authority in Europe after the collapse of the Carolingian empire in 888, and the ambitions of rulers in the early modern (1500-1700) era. To … Continue reading Tilly Goes to Church: The Medieval and Religious Origins of the European State
When I was young, I was told that there were two topics you should never bring up in polite society: religion and politics. The advice clearly did not rub off. I have spent a good portion of my career studying the two. It seems obvious to even a casual observer that religion has played an … Continue reading Religion and Political Economy in History (Part I)