Working paper

Religious Co-option in Autocracy: A Theory Inspired by History

Emmanuelle Auriol, and Jean-Philippe Platteau

Abstract

The relationship between religion and politics is explored from a theoretical standpoint, assuming that religious clerics can be coopted by the ruler acting as an autocrat. The comparative effects of decentralized versus centralized religions on the optimal level of cooperation between the autocrat and the religious clerics, which itself impinges upon political stability, is analysed. The paper shows that the presence of a decentralized body of clerics makes autocratic regimes more unstable. It also shows that in time of stability, the level of reforms is larger with a centralized religion than with a decentralized one. When the autocrat in the decentralized case pushes more reforms than in the centralized one, he always does so at the cost of stability. Historical case studies are presented that serve to illustrate the main results.

Keywords

Autocracy; instrumentalization of religion; centralized and decentralized religion; Islam; economic development; reforms;

JEL codes

  • D02: Institutions: Design, Formation, and Operations
  • D72: Political Processes: Rent-Seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
  • N40: General, International, or Comparative
  • O57: Comparative Studies of Countries
  • P48: Political Economy • Legal Institutions • Property Rights • Natural Resources • Energy • Environment • Regional Studies
  • Z12: Religion

Replaced by

Emmanuelle Auriol, and Jean-Philippe Platteau, Religious Co-option in Autocracy: A Theory Inspired by History, Journal of Development Economics, vol. 127, July 2017, pp. 395–412.

Reference

Emmanuelle Auriol, and Jean-Philippe Platteau, Religious Co-option in Autocracy: A Theory Inspired by History, TSE Working Paper, n. 16-746, December 2016.

See also

Published in

TSE Working Paper, n. 16-746, December 2016