History

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

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

  • Downloads：1262
  • Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
  • Create Date：2022-03-23 04:41:39
  • Update Date：2025-09-23
  • Status：finish
  • Author：Bruce Bueno de Mesquita
  • ISBN：1541768752
  • Environment：PC/Android/iPhone/iPad/Kindle
  • Download

Summary

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。

Download

Reviews

Stephanie ，

I was really excited to have the opportunity to review The Invention of Power， but I'm not entirely sure the book and the title match up。 The sheer amount of research put forth in this work is really very impressive。 de Mesquita has quite literally done his work and I have learned a great deal。 Although I studied game theory in grad school， the era at the center of this book is not one with which I am terribly familiar， so The Invention of Power has taught me a lot about the history of and dynam I was really excited to have the opportunity to review The Invention of Power， but I'm not entirely sure the book and the title match up。 The sheer amount of research put forth in this work is really very impressive。 de Mesquita has quite literally done his work and I have learned a great deal。 Although I studied game theory in grad school， the era at the center of this book is not one with which I am terribly familiar， so The Invention of Power has taught me a lot about the history of and dynamics of the institutions and the rulers， both secular and religious， during the 900-1300s。 That being said， I also don't have much of a background with which to critique the assumptions and theses put forth by de Mesquita。 It does feel as if some of the conclusions may be a bit premature or overly generous based on the evidence offered。 While I have no doubt that the Concordats set the stage for a massive shift in power and control of much of European life during this timeframe， I am not entirely convinced by de Mesquita's assertion that these seemingly small events led to the existence and spread of "western exceptionalism，" as is claimed。 I have no doubt that they did lead to some rather incredible shifts in European society that certainly spread throughout the continent， and even the world， but I am personally missing the link to them being the purported smoking gun。 For those who are looking for an easy-to-understand book on the subject， I would advise that this book is a bit heady and reads like the books I read in my doctoral program。This review is based off of an advanced copy of the book， courtesy of the publisher， and is entirely my own opinion。 。。。more

Sage ，

Bueno de Mesquita takes the novel approach of using game theory to trace the roots of "western exceptionalism" to the Concordats of London， Paris， and most importantly Worms （aka Verms） in 1122。 I'm not great at game theory， and I had to read the book twice to really get his arguments， but he makes a strong case that the 187 year Concordat period was foundational in establishing separation of Church and State in Germany， England， France， and other regions covered （Netherlands， Belgium， some othe Bueno de Mesquita takes the novel approach of using game theory to trace the roots of "western exceptionalism" to the Concordats of London， Paris， and most importantly Worms （aka Verms） in 1122。 I'm not great at game theory， and I had to read the book twice to really get his arguments， but he makes a strong case that the 187 year Concordat period was foundational in establishing separation of Church and State in Germany， England， France， and other regions covered （Netherlands， Belgium， some other small regions）。 I had not known the tactics the papacy used to quash economic development in the papal states， not least using the Knights Templar banking empire to finance economic warfare against the Holy Roman Empire。 That is some history that's going on my to-read list once I get out of antiquity and return to my medieval reading。The factors used in analyzing the "Concordat game" include per capita income， life expectancy， quality of life， proximity to major trade routes， etc。， as well as rating bishops' secularity vs papal loyalty， diocese proximity to the Vatican， and so forth。 I am not sold on every factor。 I found it odd that Bueno de Mesquita does not address what it means to be near a major trade route in any meaningful way。 Where did these routes come from？ Were they affected by tribalism or racism？ Were they tolled？ Were they restricted to people of particular ethnicities？ What about ports？ What about kingdom or papal import tariffs？ I don't know if these issues mattered to the game theory test or not， because the author doesn't address them。I'm also not entirely sure what constitutes the "Europe" of the book。 Clearly， all of Western Europe counts， but Eastern Europe is not mentioned other than to acknowledge that the Eastern Orthodox Church exists。 That's fine， but where exactly is the Orthodox split？ What about Poland？ Hungary？ I realize Eastern Europe is not exactly contained in the Concordat region， but Bueno de Mesquita so often refers "Europe" as a whole， I am confused by what is meant。I'm also leery of the author's conclusions tying papal dominance to European countries & their former （or continued） colonies who continue to have lower scores on quality of life indices， per capita income， etc。， because imperialism happened and continues to happen。 Political science is profoundly involved in studying the effects of medieval imperialism on the modern world， and erasing those effects from this study seems kind of sketchy。 How does the Concordat Game stand up in light of overt or covert policies refusing investment in or penalizing trade with areas populated by out-groups？ There is substance here for any number of articles tracing where the logic follows and where the logic fails against the tide of human prejudice。 TBF， I'd like to see those articles。 If you write one， link me。At any rate， I'm fascinated by the idea that so-called "Western Exceptionalism" is rooted in 187 years of codified， incipient separation of Church and State， and despite everything that happened after 1309， including epic plague， famine， war， etc。， the Concordat era may have had a lasting effect。 The statistics here deal with an incredible amount of data to prove the connection， and it's certainly a more appealing idea than the racist/ethnocentric alternative。 I just wonder what else was going on。 What other factors existed in a pie chart of monarchical resistance to a corrupt medieval Church？ Because while the Concordat game argument is persuasive， history is rarely down to just one thing。 I want to see the complex of inputs that interreacted， how， and when。ARC。 。。。more

Reference

google book https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&q=The Invention of Power: Popes, Kings, and The Birth of the West

hathitrust digital library https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/ls?q1=The Invention of Power: Popes, Kings, and The Birth of the West&field1=ocr&a=srchls&ft=ft&lmt=ft

The British Library https://bll01.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?query=any,contains,The Invention of Power: Popes, Kings, and The Birth of the West&tab=LibraryCatalog&search_scope=Not_BL_Suppress&vid=44BL_INST:BLL01&lang=en&offset=0