War, Peace, and Prosperity in the Name of God
The Ottoman Role in Europe’s Socioeconomic Evolution
9780226388434
9780226232287
War, Peace, and Prosperity in the Name of God
The Ottoman Role in Europe’s Socioeconomic Evolution
Differences among religious communities have motivated—and continue to motivate—many of the deadliest conflicts in human history. But how did political power and organized religion become so thoroughly intertwined? And how have religion and religiously motivated conflicts affected the evolution of societies throughout history, from demographic and sociopolitical change to economic growth?
War, Peace, and Prosperity in the Name of God turns the focus on the “big three monotheisms”—Judaism, Islam, and Christianity—to consider these questions. Chronicling the relatively rapid spread of the Abrahamic religions among the Old World, Murat Iyigun shows that societies that adhered to a monotheistic belief in that era lasted longer, suggesting that monotheism brought some sociopolitical advantages. While the inherent belief in one true god meant that these religious communities had sooner or later to contend with one another, Iyigun shows that differences among them were typically strong enough to trump disagreements within. The book concludes by documenting the long-term repercussions of these dynamics for the organization of societies and their politics in Europe and the Middle East.
War, Peace, and Prosperity in the Name of God turns the focus on the “big three monotheisms”—Judaism, Islam, and Christianity—to consider these questions. Chronicling the relatively rapid spread of the Abrahamic religions among the Old World, Murat Iyigun shows that societies that adhered to a monotheistic belief in that era lasted longer, suggesting that monotheism brought some sociopolitical advantages. While the inherent belief in one true god meant that these religious communities had sooner or later to contend with one another, Iyigun shows that differences among them were typically strong enough to trump disagreements within. The book concludes by documenting the long-term repercussions of these dynamics for the organization of societies and their politics in Europe and the Middle East.
See online technical appendices for the book.
272 pages | 24 halftones, 2 line drawings, 6 tables | 6 x 9 | © 2015
Economics and Business: Economics--Development, Growth, Planning, Economics--History
Reviews
Table of Contents
Preface
I The Preliminaries
1 Societies, Polities, and Religion
1.1 Faith and Social Order
1.2 Does Theistic Competition Matter?
1.2.1 Social Advantages of Economies of Scale
1.2.2 Personalized Spiritual Exchange
1.2.3 Longer Time Horizons Due to Afterlife
1.3 Monotheisms Rule…
1.4 …and Conflict
II The Rise of Monotheism
2 Empires Strike Back…under One God
2.1 Some Definitions
2.2 Sources and Data
2.3 A Brief History
2.4 Some Generalizations
2.5 Hypothesis
2.6 Identifying Monotheisms’ Impact
2.7 Monotheisms Reign Supreme
3 Globalizing Abrahamic Monotheisms
3.1 Judaism
3.2 Christianity
3.3 Islam
3.4 The Early Contacts
3.4.1 Mohammed and Charlemagne
3.4.2 Holy Crusades
3.4.3 Moorish Spain (al-Andalus)
3.4.4 Medieval Islamic Science
3.5 From Triumph to Confrontation
III Monotheism, Conflict, and Cooperation
4 A Conceptual Framework
4.1 An Outline
4.2 Resources, Conflict, and Territorial Conquests
4.3 What’s Faith Got to Do with It?
5 The “Dark Side” Rises
5.1 From Local Tribe to Global Empire
5.1.1 Foundations
5.1.2 Government and Polity
5.2 Gaza, Islam, and the Ottoman State
5.3 Western Conquests
5.3.1 The Golden Era
6 Ottomans’ Faith and Protestants’ Fate
6.1 Charles, Francis, and Ferdinand
6.2 The German Diets, Austria-Hungary, and the Papacy
6.3 Deals with the Infidel
6.4 Hypothesis
6.5 Data Sources and Definitions
6.6 A Descriptive Look
6.7 Main Findings
6.7.1 Ottoman Wars and Intra-European Violence
6.7.2 Ottomans and the Protestant Reformation
6.8 At the Dawn of an Oasis of Prosperity
7 Those Harem Nights
7.1 Trends in Ottoman Conquests
7.2 The Harem Hierarchy and Genealogical Links
7.3 Hypothesis
7.4 Main Results
7.5 Discussion
7.6 Mom Knows Best?
7.7 Cultural Identity, Ethnicity, and Religion
IV Pluralism, Coexistence, and Prosperity
8 Culture, Clashes, and Peace
8.1 Ethnicity, Religion, and Conflict
8.2 What the Data Say
8.3 Key Findings
8.4 From Ethno-Religious Battles to Huntington and Beyond
9 Conflict, Political Efficacy, and National Borders
9.1 Conflicts and Institutional Quality
9.2 Caveats, Qualifications, and Channels of Impact
9.3 Borders Are a Manifestation of Conflict, Too
10 Religious Coexistence, Social Peace, and Prosperity
10.1 Is There a Link?
10.2 Individual Effects
10.3 Institutional Effects
10.4 A Comparative-Development Coda
11 Meanwhile, in the Orient…
11.1 The Cognitive Dissonance of the Sick Man of Europe
11.2 External Foes and Islamic (Dis)unity
11.3 The Pending Islamic Reformation?
References
Index
I The Preliminaries
1 Societies, Polities, and Religion
1.1 Faith and Social Order
1.2 Does Theistic Competition Matter?
1.2.1 Social Advantages of Economies of Scale
1.2.2 Personalized Spiritual Exchange
1.2.3 Longer Time Horizons Due to Afterlife
1.3 Monotheisms Rule…
1.4 …and Conflict
II The Rise of Monotheism
2 Empires Strike Back…under One God
2.1 Some Definitions
2.2 Sources and Data
2.3 A Brief History
2.4 Some Generalizations
2.5 Hypothesis
2.6 Identifying Monotheisms’ Impact
2.7 Monotheisms Reign Supreme
3 Globalizing Abrahamic Monotheisms
3.1 Judaism
3.2 Christianity
3.3 Islam
3.4 The Early Contacts
3.4.1 Mohammed and Charlemagne
3.4.2 Holy Crusades
3.4.3 Moorish Spain (al-Andalus)
3.4.4 Medieval Islamic Science
3.5 From Triumph to Confrontation
III Monotheism, Conflict, and Cooperation
4 A Conceptual Framework
4.1 An Outline
4.2 Resources, Conflict, and Territorial Conquests
4.3 What’s Faith Got to Do with It?
5 The “Dark Side” Rises
5.1 From Local Tribe to Global Empire
5.1.1 Foundations
5.1.2 Government and Polity
5.2 Gaza, Islam, and the Ottoman State
5.3 Western Conquests
5.3.1 The Golden Era
6 Ottomans’ Faith and Protestants’ Fate
6.1 Charles, Francis, and Ferdinand
6.2 The German Diets, Austria-Hungary, and the Papacy
6.3 Deals with the Infidel
6.4 Hypothesis
6.5 Data Sources and Definitions
6.6 A Descriptive Look
6.7 Main Findings
6.7.1 Ottoman Wars and Intra-European Violence
6.7.2 Ottomans and the Protestant Reformation
6.8 At the Dawn of an Oasis of Prosperity
7 Those Harem Nights
7.1 Trends in Ottoman Conquests
7.2 The Harem Hierarchy and Genealogical Links
7.3 Hypothesis
7.4 Main Results
7.5 Discussion
7.6 Mom Knows Best?
7.7 Cultural Identity, Ethnicity, and Religion
IV Pluralism, Coexistence, and Prosperity
8 Culture, Clashes, and Peace
8.1 Ethnicity, Religion, and Conflict
8.2 What the Data Say
8.3 Key Findings
8.4 From Ethno-Religious Battles to Huntington and Beyond
9 Conflict, Political Efficacy, and National Borders
9.1 Conflicts and Institutional Quality
9.2 Caveats, Qualifications, and Channels of Impact
9.3 Borders Are a Manifestation of Conflict, Too
10 Religious Coexistence, Social Peace, and Prosperity
10.1 Is There a Link?
10.2 Individual Effects
10.3 Institutional Effects
10.4 A Comparative-Development Coda
11 Meanwhile, in the Orient…
11.1 The Cognitive Dissonance of the Sick Man of Europe
11.2 External Foes and Islamic (Dis)unity
11.3 The Pending Islamic Reformation?
References
Index