The Role of the Church in the Eastern Roman Empire

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The role of the church is actually quite, much more complex than what first meet the eye. The merovingians wern't, or the franks weren't, initially christian. They became christian as a state building effort. So clovis decided to convert to christianity, but it wasn't a personal conversion. He converted together with all warriors andand he wanted to have an additional political hierarchy created thanks to the church. Christianity playeda very, very important role. Their ocratic traditions persisted, but no liberty emerged in the byzantian empire. Because you had the one blade, which was the state institutions. The other blade, the bodem up

What determines the economic, social, and political trajectories of nations? Why were settlers in colonies like Jamestown and Australia able to escape the extractive systems desired by their British masters, while colonial subjects in Barbados and Jamaica were not? In his latest book, Daron Acemoglu elevates the power of institutions over theories centering on human capital, culture, or geography. Institutions help strike the balance of power in the constant struggle between state and society, creating a ‘narrow corridor’ through which liberty and prosperity is achieved.

Daron joined Tyler for a conversation about drivers of economic growth, the economic causes and effects of democratization, how Germanic tribes introduced “bottom-up politics” to the Roman empire, the institutional reasons that China’s state capacity and control has increased with its wealth, his predictions for the future of liberty in his birth country of Turkey, the biggest challenges currently facing the Middle East, what we can learn from the example of Lagos, why publishing in the “top five” is overrated, tips on motivating graduate students, and more.

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Recorded October 25th, 2019 Other ways to connect

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