The Political Legacy of Islamic Conquest
Critical junctures in history can cast long-run shadows on institutional development. The death of Prophet Muhammad in the 7th century ushered in a period of Islamic conquest. By 1100, conquest introduced several unique institutional innovations (e.g., political authority enforced with elite slave soldiers) leading to a “classical” Islamic equilibrium of centralized autocracy that has persisted to the modern period. To substantiate these claims, I demonstrate that countries with greater exposure to Islamic conquest are less democratic in the modern era. Furthermore, to trace the causal channel, I exploit a differences-in-difference research design to show that states exposed to Islamic conquest experienced a robust increase in state centralization during the conquest period. The institutional legacy of Islamic conquest helps explain the persistence of a “democratic deficit” in many Muslim-majority societies.
Date:
30 October 2018, 17:00 (Tuesday, 4th week, Michaelmas 2018)
Venue:
Nuffield College, New Road OX1 1NF
Venue Details:
Clay Room
Speaker:
Professor Faisal Ahmed (Princeton University)
Organising department:
Nuffield College
Organisers:
Professor Sergi Pardos-Prado (University of Oxford),
Professor Geoffrey Evans (University of Oxford)
Organiser contact email address:
maxine.collett@nuffield.ox.ac.uk
Part of:
Nuffield College Political Science Seminars
Booking required?:
Not required
Audience:
Members of the University only
Editor:
Maxine Collett
