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Religious origins of democracy & dictatorship

Author

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  • Grigoriadis, Theocharis
Abstract
Weber considered the Protestant work ethic the foundation of modern capitalism. I extend Weber's theory by arguing that states with predominantly Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Muslim populations have had a stronger inclination toward underdevelopment and dictatorship than states with Protestant or Jewish majorities. This is the case because their respective religious collectives (monastery, tariqa) promote the hierarchical provision of common goods at the expense of market incentives. I define the aforementioned three religions as collectivist, in contrast to Protestantism and Judaism, which I define as individualist. I provide a historical overview that designates the Jewish kibbutz as the collective of democracy and the Eastern Orthodox monastery as the collective of dictatorship. Focusing on collectivist economies, I find that modernization, as a credible commitment to the improved future provision of public goods, occurs when the threat of a radical government is imminent and when the leader has high extraction of rents from the economy. The emergence of radical governments is more likely in collectivist than in individualist economies. Historical illustrations from collectivist economies include the Russian Revolution, the Islamic Revolution in Iran, and the postwar welfare state in Western Europe.

Suggested Citation

  • Grigoriadis, Theocharis, 2016. "Religious origins of democracy & dictatorship," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 38(5), pages 785-809.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jpolmo:v:38:y:2016:i:5:p:785-809
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jpolmod.2016.02.012
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Jeremy W. Lamoreaux & Lincoln Flake, 2018. "The Russian Orthodox Church, the Kremlin, and religious (il)liberalism in Russia," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 4(1), pages 1-4, December.
    2. Castellani, Marco, 2019. "Does culture matter for the economic performance of countries? An overview of the literature," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 41(4), pages 700-717.
    3. Sajad Rahimian, 2021. "The Determinants of Democracy Revisited: An Instrumental Variable Bayesian Model Averaging Approach," Papers 2103.04255, arXiv.org.
    4. Grigoriadis, Theocharis, 2017. "Religion, administration & public goods: Experimental evidence from Russia," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 42-60.
    5. Jha, Chandan Kumar & Kodila-Tedika, Oasis, 2020. "Does social media promote democracy? Some empirical evidence," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 42(2), pages 271-290.
    6. Ioannis N. Grigoriadis & Theocharis N. Grigoriadis, 2018. "The political economy of Kulturkampf: evidence from imperial Prussia and republican Turkey," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 29(3), pages 339-369, September.
    7. Matuszak Piotr, 2020. "What determines the scale of state ownership in enterprises? Some evidence from post-socialist countries," Economics and Business Review, Sciendo, vol. 6(4), pages 95-117, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Religion; Modernization; Collectivism; Democracy; Dictatorship;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • P21 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist and Transition Economies - - - Planning, Coordination, and Reform
    • P26 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist and Transition Economies - - - Property Rights
    • P32 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist Institutions and Their Transitions - - - Collectives; Communes; Agricultural Institutions
    • P51 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Comparative Economic Systems - - - Comparative Analysis of Economic Systems
    • Z12 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Religion

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