Abstract
An influential literature sees the roots of sustained economic growth in Europe’s unique institutional framework. The events and the factors contributing to the emergence of these institutions, however, remain a topic of scholarly disagreement. Authors have sought the origins of these institutions in factors ranging from geography to culture. In this chapter, I propose a conceptual framework to better understand the emergence of Europe’s medieval institutional framework (which included parliaments, city states, juries and impersonal exchange among other institutions) through comparison with the institutional equilibrium in the Islamic Middle East before the rise of the Ottoman Empire (that is, I center my attention on the period between the 9th and 15th centuries CE).1
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© 2012 International Economic Association
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Chaney, E. (2012). Separation of Powers and the Medieval Roots of Institutional Divergence between Europe and the Islamic Middle East. In: Aoki, M., Kuran, T., Roland, G. (eds) Institutions and Comparative Economic Development. International Economic Association Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137034014_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137034014_7
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
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