1) What do the conventional sociology and political science litera

1) What do the conventional sociology and political science
literatures argue about the role of religion in sociopolitical
stability and why? According to the book, how do Abrahamic
monotheisms factor into these effects?
Conventional sociology literature argues that monotheism
played a key role in setting the foundations for social stability.
As discussed in Chapter 1 of the WPP Book as well as the class
lecture, it was emphasized that in order for social stability to
exist, violence, anarchy and abuse of various types of power
needed to be eradicated. A way in which this could be done is
through the moral self-restraint offered by religions. For
example, in some religions the notion of afterlife and whether
an individual goes to heaven or hell is of utmost importance,
and is driven by the ways in which the individual acts in their
current life. Thus, individuals may feel more inclined to act
properly and abide by the rules/notions of their religion and
therefore societal norms because they want to end up in Heaven.
Additionally, Abrahamic monotheisms are characterized by One
God- one omnipotent supreme being that has control over the
universe and has specific desires/wishes that he wants humans
to full-fill that he then communicates to them. This creates an
additional level of accountability between a follower and the
One God, because the relationship that a follower develops with
this One God is personalized and has consequences/benefits that
extend into the afterlife. Therefore, faith and theology are
important mechanisms by which to constrain human wants and
desires, such as health and wealth. Followers often times
emphasize and prioritize the immaterial benefits they receive
from the Universe and the deity as opposed to fleeting material
desires, showing that religion, and especially the Abrahamic
monotheisms, can play an important role in sociopolitical
stability from the sociological perspective.
Political scientists, in contrast, have argued that religion and
political forces have complemented one another in creating an

effective centralized governmental mechanism. They also
gathered data and analyzed trends on how religious rivalries or
affinities, especially those including the Abrahamic
monotheisms, created and maintained violent conflict
throughout world history. Religions, when combined with
political institutions, often offer more credibility for both the
religion as well as the political institution and are able to create
more of a following. Abrahamic monotheisms in particular
create an added benefit for sociopolitical stability because the
subscribers to the religion only believe in that One God (For
example: Christianity and Jesus), and thus when these
Abrahamic monotheisms are combined with a political
institution, they can become the state's official religion as well
as create a higher entry barrier for other religions with rival
claims attempting to influence citizens and destabilize the
society at large. Political scientists also use conflict data and
found that Abrahamic monotheisms in particular, because of
their One God notions, were more likely to not only spread
faster, but were also more likely to come in conflict with one
another, with the conflicts being much more deadly in nature in
comparison to those conflicts without a religious componenet.
were decreasing over time, the conflicts were getting shorter in
nature, but they were getting more deadly. When considering
religious conflict, they were not shrinking that fast and they
were far deadlier and lasted much longer.
The University of Chicago Press
(Chicago, IL) April 30, 2015 1 / 24

War, Peace & Prosperity in the Name of God
Three Main Themes
The book with is an attempt to identify & quantify the historical
role
of religion in sociopolitics and economics.
To that end, it takes a functionalist view driven by the social,
political, and economic functions of religion.
Structural-functionalist analysis of religion, spearheaded by
Talcott
Parsons in the 1930s.
It revolves around three critical questions:
Why and how did political power and organized religion become
so
swiftly and successfully intertwined?
What has been the role of religion in con�ict historically?
And what were some of the sociopolitical, demographic, and
economic
e¤ects of religiously motivated con�icts?
The Key Punch-lines

Monotheisms, especially the Abrahamic ones, were particularly
potent
in combining and intertwining religious and political authority.
Di¤erences, driven by the One God/One Religion duality, were
often
strong enough to trump sectarian and denomination
disagreements
within.
Interactions, rivalries and competition between monotheisms
left
lasting imprints on institutions, politics and socioeconomics
both in
the West and the (Middle) East.
Preliminaries
Moral as well as ethical considerations associated with faith
serve as a
foundation for social stability.
Monotheism particularly e¤ective in serving this function.
Ecclesiastical and political power complemented each other in
in�uencing the e¢ cacy of centralized government.
But religious rivalries produced and sustained violent con�icts
throughout history.

Preliminaries
Violent con�icts were diminishing over time...
Preliminaries
They were getting shorter...
Preliminaries
.... but also deadlier.

Abrahamic Monotheisms
Propensity of religious con�icts didn�t decline as much.
They tended to be more deadly....
... and last longer.
(Chicago, IL) April 30, 2015 10 / 24
Christian-Muslim Rivalries
Chapter 2 establishes the extent and speed with which
Abrahamic
monotheisms spread between the eighth and �fteenth centuries
CE.

Chapter 3 discusses the chronologies of Judaism, Christianity,
and
Islam, subsequent to their births.
Although these religions di¤ered, one common trait among
adherents
has their zeal for promoting their religion.
The success of monotheisms in spreading and enduring meant
that,
sooner or later, civilizations associated with them would be in
direct
confrontation.
One God/One True Faith duality.
(Chicago, IL) April 30, 2015 11 / 24
Chapter 4 discusses a framework in which internal divisions
within a
monotheist religion would be subordinated to those between
monotheisms.
For religious a¢ nity to foster cooperation among parties that
could
otherwise be in con�ict with one another, the resources at stake
need
to be meaningful and outside external threats need to be
credible and

grave enough.
An outside threat tended to be �grave�when it came from those
who
subscribed to a di¤erent religion.
A "grave" military threat by a society with a di¤erent faith
could
breed internal coexistence, however temporary the latter could
be.
(Chicago, IL) April 30, 2015 12 / 24
Chapter 5 reviews the rise of the Islamic Ottoman Empire in the
14th
CE and how it became a serious threat to Europe.
Di¤erences of faith had a lot to do with how Ottomans and
Europeans viewed each other.
This manifested in the main imperial objectives of the early
Ottoman
rulers.
The Gaza ideology (Kafadar, 1996)
Its earlier precursors in the Holy Crusades the Europeans
organized
against the Muslims between the 11th and 13th CE.
(Chicago, IL) April 30, 2015 13 / 24

E¤ects in Europe
"Modern history of Europe begins under stress of the Ottoman
conquest."
Lord Acton (1834�1902)
Chapter 6 shows that European ecclesiastical pluralism, as
exempli�ed
by the recognition of Lutheranism and its o¤shoots by the
Roman
Catholic Church in 1555, had some roots in European and
Ottoman
existential rivalries.
Chapter 7 explores the in�uence of state ideologies versus that
of
ethno-religious ties in perpetuating or diverting con�icts and
war.
The reign of a sultan with a European and Christian maternal
background was enough to o¤set most of the empire�s western
orientation in imperial expansion.
(Chicago, IL) April 30, 2015 14 / 24
E¤ects in Europe

Chapter 8 documents that religious fractionalization is, at least
in
part, an artifact of the history of con�icts.
Countries in which more Christian on Muslim wars unfolded
historically
between 1400 CE and 1900 CE re�ect more religious
homogeneity
today.
Chapter 9 establishes that the longer-term history and patterns
of
con�ict also came to bear on political borders in the modern
world.
Christian versus Muslim con�icts and intrareligious feuds had
no
impact on border formation.
But intra-Christian con�icts and Muslim-Christian con�icts
had a
fragmentary e¤ect on the size of polities.
(Chicago, IL) April 30, 2015 15 / 24
E¤ects in Europe
Chapter 10 is a review of the associated literatures in sociology,
political science and economics that have articulated links
between
European ecclesiastical pluralism and the continent�s economic
takeo¤.

Individual e¤ects:
Weber-Tawney (1930, 1926) culture-centric hypothesis.
Becker-Woessmann (2009) human capital-centric role.
Institutional E¤ects:
A more competitive religion market; check and balances on the
Roman
Catholic Church.
The interplay between political fragmentation and religious
pluralism
(Mokyr, 2005).
(Chicago, IL) April 30, 2015 16 / 24
E¤ects in the Middle East
Chapter 11 concludes by an examination of repercussions in the
Middle East and dar al-Islam.
Culture, ideology and technology transfers.
The cognitive dissonance of the "sick man of Europe" (Osman
II, r.
1618 - 1622, Murad IV, r. 1623 - 1640).
Phases of Ottoman technology adoption involved (a) denial, (b)
conservative revival, (c) reluctant adoption of militarily vital
technologies only, and (d) social, political and cultural
emulation.
The adoption of the printing press not without a 234 year lag.
Ibrahim Müteferrika published sixteen works in 20 volumes but

his
printing press closed after his death.
Setting the intellectual basis for the Tanzimat Decree of 1839
by Abdül
Mecid, marking the �rst sweeping reform attempts in the
empire.
(Chicago, IL) April 30, 2015 17 / 24
Why did the Western threat and technological advances not
unite dar
al-Islam?
Historical instances in which they, in fact, did. The First
Crusades
during the Fatimid and Abbasid dynasties in 11th CE, the
Turkish War
of independence in 1919-1922.
More importantly, why were there no positive sociopolitical,
institutional rami�cations?
No satisfactory answer to this. But Kuran (2004) and Armstrong
(1988) speak to this issue.
And Kemalist reforms in Turkey did produce tangible e¤ects
although
their long-term resiliency is questionable now.
(Chicago, IL) April 30, 2015 18 / 24

Impact on education and women�s role in society was tangible
and
long lasting...
(Chicago, IL) April 30, 2015 19 / 24
... but not irreversible.
(Chicago, IL) April 30, 2015 20 / 24
The Big Picture
Monotheist societies lasted longer and spread wider in the pre -
modern
era, suggesting that monotheism brought some sociopolitical
advantages.
The inherent belief in one true god meant that these religious
communities had sooner or later to contend with one another,
although di¤erences among them were typically strong enough

to
trump disagreements within.
There were long-term repercussions of these dynamics for the
organization of societies and their politics in Europe and the
Middle
East.
(Chicago, IL) April 30, 2015 21 / 24
The Institutional Context
Institutions rule and become growth enhancing if and when
domestic
parties have more common interests at stake.
European ecclesiastical history is a prominent manifestation of
this
conjecture.
The evolution of American institutions since the demise of the
Soviet
bloc is its modern corollary.
The extent to which they are e¤ectively inclusive and non-
extractionary
is now o¢ cially open to debate (Mancur Olson, 1984, redux).
(Chicago, IL) April 30, 2015 22 / 24

The Development Context
Two fundamentals of neoclassical economics are virtues of
competition and nonzero summness.
This book suggests ideological competition had positive
sociopolitical
and economic e¤ects as well.
Moreover, such external competition a¤ected the extent to
which
economic interests became "common".
At a minimum, external threats and ideological competition
aided
Pareto e¢ cient internal distributions when there were economic,
political and social changes.
(Chicago, IL) April 30, 2015 23 / 24
The Geopolitical & Globalization Context
When in competition, nationalism and religious radicalism have
historically provided checks and balances on each other.
However, globalization inherently favors religious ideology
over
nationalism.
Religion has ideological and scale advantages over nationalism,

both of
which being more conducive to capitalist growth.
And this is the context in which one has to contend with the
Huntington hypothesis.
(Chicago, IL) April 30, 2015 24 / 24

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1) What do the conventional sociology and political science litera