The Invention of Power: Popes, Kings, and the Birth of the West
Bruce Bueno de Mesquita
Public Affairs (January 2022)

On “how the competition between popes and kings a thousand years ago led to Europe’s ‘exceptionalism.'”

So, what is Bruce Bueno de Mesquita’s thesis? “This book contends that a most forgotten or overlooked deal, the Concordat of Worms, signed on September 23, 1122, and its predecessors agreed to by the Catholic Church and the kings of England and France in 1107, laid the foundation for northern Europe to become more prosperous than southern Europe, for parts of Europe to break with the Catholic Church while other parts stuck with it, for some kingdoms in Europe to develop accountable government ahead of other kingdoms, and for science to flower more successfully in some portions of Europe than in others.

“In short, it laid the foundation for the creation of Western exceptionalism first in France and for the gradual spread of its effects northward and then elsewhere. That exceptionalism, that tolerance, prosperity, and freedom, began to be born and to spread four hundred years before Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation.”

With incomparable precision and eloquence as well as passion, Bueno de Mesquita explains the WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, and WHY of a neglected process of continental transformation.

In or near the central business district of most major cities, there is a farmer’s market at which several merchants — at least pre-Covid — have offered slices of fresh fruit as samples of their wares. In that same spirit, here are several brief comments that suggest the thrust and flavor of Bueno de Mesquita’s thinking.

o “I propose that we agree to take a cynical view of human nature, putting aside any optimism we might have about kings and popes (or anyone else) doing what they thought was good for their subjects or what might have been good for the long-term future of their empires and their church, respectively.” (Page 11)

o “Power, money, and family advantage were the temptations that fell upon the newly empowered and enriched church thanks to the deal that resulted in the creation of the Papal States. Now, in ways not true before, there was something really valuable to fight over beyond the church’s religious mission. Now control over the bishops of the church was more important than at any time since the collapse of the Roman Empire.” (39)

o “The logic of the strategic game created by the Concordat of Worms tells us that wealthier dioceses should have gotten bishops more aligned with the king than the pope after the concordat was signed [on September 23, 1122] as compared [and contrasted], on average, to the alignment of bishops prior to the resolution of the Investiture Controversy.” (89)

o “Christian beliefs did not make the church oppose improvements in economic conditions. Rather, the problem with growth was that it translates into more secular power, which was bad for the church as a political institution. So the Catholic leadership did what they could to limit economic expansion in order to protect their interests. and lay leaders did what they could to get richer.” (167)

o “The upshot of the direct link between wealth and power for kings who were subject to the terms of the concordat was that the king needed support from many more people than had been true before the concordat if he was to fulfill the opportunity it gave him to become wealthier and more powerful through means other than conquest or even marriage or dynasticism.” (227)

o “Prosperity, democracy, and transparency are hallmarks of Western exceptionalism that seem to have been advanced thanks to the concordats. Each of these benchmarks of social success is also a potential source of inventiveness and creativity. They are not, of course, the sole province of Western societies.” (280)

o “The road to a better world is not terribly complicated. It is not mysterious. It is not unknown… That is what the concordats produced.; that is what made Western exceptionalism; and that is what can be, and, by my lights, should be repeated everywhere, in all times. That is the way to make everyone’s opportunity for a great life, exceptional. That is the great, enduring lesson of and contribution to modern exceptionalism made by the Concordats of London, Paris, and Worms.” (292)

These brief comments indicate where and when the invention of power occurred…and where it could (and should) evolve, now and in years to come.

Obviously, no brief commentary such as mine can possibly do full justice to the abundance of invaluable information, insights, and counsel that Bruce Bueno de Mesquita provides. However, I hope I have at least indicated why I hold him and his work in such high regard. I congratulate him on a brilliant achievement. Bravo!

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Bruce Bueno de Mesquita (born November 24, 1946) is a political scientist, professor at New York University, and senior fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. Bueno de Mesquita graduated from Stuyvesant High School in 1963, earned his BA degree from Queens College, New York in 1967 and then his MA and PhD from the University of Michigan. He specializes in international relations, foreign policy, and nation building. He is one of the originators of selectorate theory, and was also the director of New York University’s Alexander Hamilton Center for Political Economy from 2006 to 2016.