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

by Bruce Bueno de Mesquita, Michael Beck (Read by)

Overview

In the tradition of Sapiens and 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—lies beneath a vast array of world events and political activities, past and present. It has been a source of peace and prosperity in some societies, and ethnic cleansing and havoc in others. It has also been the subject of more than a hundred years of academic debate.

The fundamental question — why are Western societies better off? — has given rise to many political theories, including some of the most dangerous and racist ones in the world. In this book, political scientist Bruce Bueno de Mesquita lays waste to these treacherous ideas, and explains the consolidation of power in the West through a single, little noticed event: the 1122 Concordat of Worms (pronounced "Verms.")

Bueno de Mesquita makes a deeply researched and very persuasive case that the Concordat changed the terms of competition between churches and nation-states, incentivizing economic growth and benefiting citizens over kings and popes. In the centuries since, those countries that have had similar arrangements have been consistently better off than those that did not.

This is a remarkable work of scholarship — insightful, original, and essential all at once. The Invention of Power asks who we are and where we came from, and answers these questions resoundingly.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781668607183
Publisher:	Public Affairs
Publication date:	01/18/2022
Product dimensions:	5.83(w) x 5.67(h) x 1.18(d)

About the Author

Bruce Bueno de Mesquita is the Julius Silver Professor of Politics and director of the Alexander Hamilton Center for Political Economy at New York University. He is the author of seventeen books, including The Dictator's Handbook.

Michael Beck is an American actor known for his starring role in The Warriors and his role as Sonny Malone in Xanadu.

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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