The Invention of Power: Popes, Kings, and the Birth of the West

by Bruce Bueno de Mesquita

Overview

In the tradition of Why Nations Fail, this book solves one of the great puzzles of history: Why did the West become the most powerful civilization in the world?

Western exceptionalism—the idea that European civilizations are freer, wealthier, and less violent—is a widespread and powerful political idea. It has been a source of peace and prosperity in some societies, and of ethnic cleansing and havoc in others.

Yet in The Invention of Power, Bruce Bueno de Mesquita draws on his expertise in political maneuvering, deal-making, and game theory to present a revolutionary new theory of Western exceptionalism: that a single, rarely discussed event in the twelfth century changed the course of European and world history. By creating a compromise between churches and nation-states that, in effect, traded money for power and power for money, the 1122 Concordat of Worms incentivized economic growth, facilitated secularization, and improved the lot of the citizenry, all of which set European countries on a course for prosperity. In the centuries since, countries that have had a similar dynamic of competition between church and state have been consistently better off than those that have not.

The Invention of Power upends conventional thinking about European culture, religion, and race and presents a persuasive new vision of world history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781541774407
Publisher:	PublicAffairs
Publication date:	01/18/2022
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
Sales rank:	546,090
File size:	6 MB

About the Author

Bruce Bueno de Mesquita is the Julius Silver Professor of Politics at New York University and was director of its Alexander Hamilton Center for Political Economy from 2006-2016. He is the author of twenty-three books, including The Dictator's Handbook.

Table of Contents

Preface 1

Chapter 1 Exceptionalism 5

Three Treaties About Power and Money Changed Europe 8

Think of Popes and Kings as Self-interested 11

Short-Term Decisions, Lasting Consequences 15

Europe: Unexpected Exceptionalism 17

Europe's Unique Feature 24

Chapter 2 Two Swords, One Church 27

Iconoclasm, the Papal States, and Escape from Constantinople 28

The Birth of Papal Nepotism 30

Papal Maneuvers to Increase Political Power 35

The Struggle over the Investiture of Bishops 39

The Pope's War with the Holy Roman Emperor 47

Chapter 3 The Concordat Game 59

The Terms of the Concordats 60

The Process of Bishop Selection Before the Concordats 73

The Concordat Game 78

Key Implications of the Concordat Game 89

Chapter 4 Secularism Surges 95

The Game's Third Outcome: Avignon and Rebellion Against the Church 96

The Church's Changing Use of Punishment 98

The Secularization of Bishops 104

The Wealth of Dioceses 107

Wealth and the Secularization of Bishops: A First Test 107

Assessing the Expected Costs of Defying the Church 109

Wealthy Sees for Secular Bishops and Poor Sees for Religious Bishops 113

Chapter 5 The Road to Prosperity 119

Maneuvers to Influence Economic Growth 124

Four Lateran Councils: Combating Secular Economic Growth 137

Secular Maneuvers for Growth 151

Growth, Crusades, and the Commercial Revolution 155

Chapter 6 The Road to Papal Serfdom and Liberation 167

Gamble on Bishops, Gamble on Vacant Sees 169

Breaking from the Church: French Wealth and the Avignon Papacy 174

Testing When France Was Ready to Rebel 176

The Church Contemplates Reform; Protestants Rebel 183

Art and the Rise of Secularism 195

Chapter 7 The Birth of States, the Birthing of Representative Democracy 199

The Concordat: A Step Toward Modern Sovereignty 202

War and Accountability 210

War and State Building 216

The Concordats and Accountable States 218

Secularism, Wealth, and Parliaments 230

Rubber Stamps or Real Parliaments 235

Did Parliaments Help or Hurt Monarchs? 238

Chapter 8 Today 253

The Altered Tides of Power 258

The Concordats and Today's Quality of Life 265

Innovation and Discovery 280

Insights for Today 286

Acknowledgments 293

Notes 297

Bibliography 311

Index 321

Editorial Reviews

11/01/2021

Political scientist Bueno de Mesquita (The Dictator’s Handbook) delivers an intriguing, data-based analysis of how three overlooked 12th-century treaties between the Catholic Church and European monarchs set the stage for people in the West to become “freer, richer, more tolerant, more innovative, and happier than people just about anywhere else in the world.” Debunking claims that this “Western exceptionalism” is the by-product of Europeans’ superior culture or genetics, Bueno de Mesquita traces its roots to the Concordant of Worms, signed by Pope Calixtus II and Holy Roman Emperor Henry V in 1122, and two similar agreements signed by the kings of England and France in 1107. According to Bueno de Mesquita, these agreements, which reformed the “haphazard, highly variable procedures for electing bishops,” forced essential adaptations by both institutions, fostered economic growth, empowered ordinary people, and laid fertile ground for democracy. Extensive analysis of the church’s hierarchical structure bolsters his theory, as do charts and graphs that illustrate some surprising insights—for example, regions covered by the concordants were likelier to form parliamentary governments in later centuries. Though Bueno de Mesquita shortchanges other factors that contributed to the rise of the West, he builds a solid case. Medieval history buffs will be impressed. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

[I]ntriguing… [H]e builds a solid case… Medieval history buffs will be impressed.”—Publishers Weekly

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