Interview with Faisal Ahmed, author of 'Conquests and Rents: A Political Economy of Dictatorship and Violence in Muslim Societies'

Tragically, dictatorship and civil strife are prevalent in many contemporary Muslim-majority (hereon, Muslim) societies; characteristics that are detrimental to socio-economic development. In Conquest and Rents: A Political Economy of Dictatorship and Violence in Muslim Societies, I offer an original explanation for why. The book is grounded in a positive political economy approach that advances a formal theory that is “tested” in a historical and contemporary setting.

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Javier Mejia is an economist at Stanford University who specializes in the intersection of social networks and economic history. His research interests also include entrepreneurship and political economy, with a particular focus on Latin America and the Middle East. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Los Andes University. Mejia has previously been a Postdoctoral Associate and Lecturer at New York University-Abu Dhabi and a Visiting Scholar at the University of Bordeaux. He is also a frequent contributor to various news outlets, currently serving as an op-ed columnist for Forbes Magazine.

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