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Association Lecture—The Economic Roots of Political Underdevelopment in the Middle East: A Historical Perspective

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  • Timur Kuran

Abstract

Key institutions of the pre‐modern Middle Eastern economy, all grounded in Islamic law, blocked the development of democratic institutions. This talk identifies three mechanisms that played critical roles. Islam's original tax system failed to produce lasting and credible constraints on governance. The waqfs (Islamic trusts) founded to provide social services to designated constituencies were politically powerless. Profit‐making private enterprises remained small and ephemeral, hindering the formation of stable coalitions capable of bargaining with the state. The last two mechanisms jointly delayed the rise of a civil society able to provide the checks and balances essential to democratic rule.

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  • Timur Kuran, 2012. "Association Lecture—The Economic Roots of Political Underdevelopment in the Middle East: A Historical Perspective," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 78(4), pages 1086-1095, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:soecon:v:78:y:2012:i:4:p:1086-1095
    DOI: 10.4284/0038-4038-78.4.1086
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Timur Kuran, 2011. "The Long Divergence: How Islamic Law Held Back the Middle East," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 9273.
    2. North, Douglass C. & Weingast, Barry R., 1989. "Constitutions and Commitment: The Evolution of Institutions Governing Public Choice in Seventeenth-Century England," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 49(4), pages 803-832, December.
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