Rulers, Religion & Riches: Why the West Got Rich and the Middle East Did Not

Thomas E. Phillips
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引用次数: 1

Abstract

Rubin, associate professor of economics at Chapman University in Orange, CA, has provided a sophisticated and nuanced analysis of social, religious and cultural factors which contributed to the economic ascendency of the West over the Middle East in the modern era. First, an acknowledgement. I possess no professional training or economic expertise beyond the level of financial literacy acquired through reading in the popular press. My review is written from the perspective of a student of religion and culture, not as a trained economist or expert in economic history and theory. Still, even with these caveats, I find this book to be a remarkable achievement. Rubin’s work falls into two major sections. In the first section, Rubin’s theoretical work, he seeks to understand “some of the necessary determinants for long-run economic success” and also “how and why an economy might stagnate if those determinants are absent” (xiv). In the second section, Rubin’s applied work, he seeks to explain why the Middle East, which was economically ahead of the West at the end of the Middle Ages, fell so far behind the West in the early modern era. For Rubin, any unnuanced effort to point toward Islam as the culprit behind the financial stagnation in the Middle East is “ridiculous” (xiv). On a macro-level, Rubin’s theoretical perspective presumes that economic development requires cultural constructs that allow for change. Cultures—and their governing authorities—which stifle creative adaptation stagnate economically; cultures which make provisions for change experience economic growth. In Rubin’s analysis, religions can both foster and inhibit such required change. In thewake of Islam’s rise,Muslim societies saw a few centuries of positive economic growth, largely due to the political stability and trade friendly practices of Mohammed and his immediate successors. However, during the Ottoman period, these same societies began to stagnate, not because of “an inherent feature” of these societies, but rather because of “a lack of incentive to change” (21). Rubin’s theory of economic development (which is nicely illustrated in graphic form, 34) assumes that the primary enabling and limiting forces behind long economic development are the ruling authorities who shape laws and policies. He presumes that societies with a consistent pattern of appropriate laws andpolicieswill, over time, prosper. Still, as a realist, Rubin acknowledges that the first real priority of any governing authority is to remain in power, a priority which he understands the authorities to actualize via some combination of coercion and legitimation. On the one hand, coercion is effected rather bluntly through military and policing units. On the other hand, legitimization is achieved through the more complex and less overt mechanisms of religious authorities, local leaders, economic elites and other opinion leaders. Economic growth occurs, according to Rubin, when the key agents of legitimatization are economic elites who influence policy makers toward policies that aid economic growth.
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统治者、宗教与财富:为什么西方富裕而中东没有
鲁宾是加州奥兰治市查普曼大学(Chapman University)的经济学副教授,他对社会、宗教和文化因素进行了复杂而细致的分析,这些因素促成了西方在现代经济上对中东的优势。首先,我要承认。除了通过阅读通俗报刊获得的金融知识水平外,我没有接受过任何专业培训或经济专业知识。我的评论是从一个宗教和文化学生的角度写的,而不是作为一个训练有素的经济学家或经济史和经济理论专家。不过,即使有这些警告,我还是觉得这本书是一个了不起的成就。鲁宾的工作主要分为两个部分。在第一部分,鲁宾的理论工作中,他试图理解“长期经济成功的一些必要决定因素”,以及“如果没有这些决定因素,经济如何以及为什么会停滞”(xiv)。在第二部分,鲁宾的应用工作中,他试图解释为什么中东在中世纪结束时经济领先于西方,在现代早期远远落后于西方。对于鲁宾来说,任何将伊斯兰教视为中东金融停滞背后的罪魁祸首的不加细致的努力都是“荒谬的”(xiv)。在宏观层面上,鲁宾的理论视角假设经济发展需要允许变革的文化结构。文化及其管理当局扼杀了创造性的适应,使经济停滞不前;为变革做准备的文化经历了经济增长。在鲁宾的分析中,宗教既可以促进也可以抑制这种必要的改变。随着伊斯兰教的兴起,穆斯林社会经历了几个世纪的积极经济增长,这在很大程度上要归功于穆罕默德及其继任者的政治稳定和贸易友好的做法。然而,在奥斯曼帝国时期,这些社会开始停滞不前,不是因为这些社会的“固有特征”,而是因为“缺乏变革的动力”(21)。鲁宾的经济发展理论(以图表形式很好地说明了这一点,第34页)假设,长期经济发展背后的主要促进和限制力量是制定法律和政策的统治当局。他认为,随着时间的推移,拥有一致的适当法律和政策模式的社会将会繁荣。然而,作为一个现实主义者,鲁宾承认,任何统治当局的首要任务都是保持权力,他理解当局通过某种强制和合法化的结合来实现这一优先事项。一方面,通过军队和警察部队进行的胁迫相当直截了当。另一方面,合法化是通过宗教当局、地方领导人、经济精英和其他意见领袖等更复杂、更不公开的机制实现的。鲁宾认为,当经济合法化的主要代理人是影响政策制定者制定有助于经济增长的政策的经济精英时,经济就会增长。
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来源期刊
Journal of Religious and Theological Information
Journal of Religious and Theological Information Arts and Humanities-Religious Studies
CiteScore
0.30
自引率
0.00%
发文量
13
期刊介绍: The Journal of Religious & Theological Information is an essential resource for bibliographers, librarians, and scholars interested in the literature of religion and theology. Both international and pluralistic in scope, this peer-reviewed journal encourages the publication of research and scholarship in the field of library and information studies as it relates to religious studies and related fields, including philosophy, ethnic studies, anthropology, sociology, and historical approaches to religion. By "information" we refer to both print and electronic, and both published and unpublished information.
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