Abstract
This article answers the following question: why were institutions of freedom not invented in the Orient but in occident? It upholds that Christianity predisposed the West to discover institutions of freedom when Islam didn’t. In the first section it explains the decline and economic rise of the Orient and Occident as derived from Kant’s hypothesis (2.1) and geographical conditions (2.2). It explains in the second section the invention of institutions of freedom in Europe by two moral innovations: the secularising of law and the invention of the individual (3). The secularising of law was the result of Christian property theology which recognised man’s place in God’s creation (3.1). Secularising of politics and the Christians’ desire for autonomy vis-à-vis political authorities originated in individual rights being conceived as normal and incited man to insist upon respect from public authorities. The advent of individual rights was at the origin of the implementation of a secular constitutional right applying to all men, even the sovereign (3.2). The third section explains why political and social Islam did not predispose Muslims to discover the institutions of freedom, capitalism. Islamic law distanced the Orient from capitalism as it developed a religion of community salvation hostile to individualism and its rights (4.1); it never disassociated the rule of God from the rule of law (4.2) and it did not consider individual rights sacred or private property (4.3). The article concludes with the way in which economic theory could conceive of the religion variable in economic growth and development (5).
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
Marshall (2008).
Rerum Novarum (1891).
Dictionnaire des religions, PUF, Paris.
Numéro Spécial, « Biens communs, patrimoines collectifs et gestion communautaire dans les sociétés musulmanes », Revue des mondes musulmans et de la Méditerranée, année 1996, volume 79, Numéro 1, pp.1-4.
Lewis (2000) uses the book of F. Rosenthal (1960), The Muslim Concept of Freedom, Leyde.
References
Acemoglu, D. (2003). Causes profondes de la pauvreté. Une perspective historique pour évaluer le rôle des institutions dans le développement économique. Finances and Développement, juin.
Adelman, I., & Morris, C. T. (1967). Society, politics, and economic development. Baltimore: John Hopkin University Press.
Adelman, I., & Morris, C. T. (1973). Economic growth and social equity in developing countries. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press.
ALdeeb, A., & Sami, Abu.-Sahlieh. (2006). Introduction à la société musulmane. Paris: Eyrolles Référence.
Aoun, S. (2007). L’islam entre tradition et modernité, entretiens avec Jean-Frédéric Légaré-Tremblay, Québec, éditions VARIA.
Austruy, J. (1960). Structure économique et civilisation, l’Egypte et le destin économique de l’islam. Paris: CEDES.
Badie, B. (1986). Culture et politique. Paris: Economica.
Baechler, J. (1995). Le capitalisme, vol.1, Les Origines. Paris: Gallimard.
Barro, R., & McCleary, R. (2003). Religion and economic growth across countries. American Sociological Review, 68(5), 760–781. doi:10.2307/1519761.
Berman, H. J. (1983). Law and revolution. The formation of the Western legal tradition. Harvard University Press. French translation (2002), Droit et révolution, Editions de la Librairie de l’Université d’Aix-en-Provence.
Berman, H. J. (1998). The Western legal tradition: The interaction of revolutionary innovation and evolutionary growth. In M. E. Streit, R. Vaubel, & P. Bernolz (Eds.), Political competition innovation and growth (pp. 35–47). Berlin-New York: Springer.
Bernholz, P., Streit, M. E., & Vaubel, R. (1998). Political competition, innovation and growth. Berlin-New York: Springer.
Besley, T. (1995). Property rights and investment incentives: Theory and evidence from Ghana. The Journal of Political Economy, 103(5), 903–937. doi:10.1086/262008.
Blum, U., & Dudley, L. (2001). Religion and economic growth: Was Weber right? Journal of Evolutionary Economics, 11(2), 207–230. doi:10.1007/PL00003862.
Borooah, V. K., & Paldam, M. (2007). Why is the world short of democracy? A cross-country analysis of barriers to representative government. European Journal of Political Economy, 23(3), 582–604.
Boudon, R. (2000). Protestantisme et capitalisme. Bilan d’un controverse. Commentaires, 807–818.
Brasseul, J. (2004). Le déclin du monde musulman à partir du moyen âge: une revue des explications. Revue région et développement, 19, 19–53.
Braudel, F. (1979). Civilisation matérielle, économie et capitalisme, XV–XVIII siècle, Armand Colin.
Cavalcandi, T. V., Parente, S. L., & Zhao, R. (2007). Religion macroeconomics: A quantitative analysis of Weber’s thesis. Economic Theory, 32, 105–123.
Collins, R. (1986). Weberian sociological theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Colombatto, E. (2001). On the concept of transition. The Journal of Markets and Morality, 4(2), 269–288.
Coulson, N. J. (1964). A history of Islamic law. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Translation in French (1995), Histoire du droit islamique, Paris: PUF.
Dawson, J. W. (1998). Institutions, investment and growth: New cross-country and panel data evidence. Economic Inquiry, XXXVI, 603–619.
De Soto, H. (2005). Le Mystère du Capital. Pourquoi le capitalisme triomphe en Occident et échoue partout ailleurs? Flammarion (published in English in 2002).
De Vanssay, X., Hildebrand, V., & Spindler, Z. A. (2005). Constitutional foundations of economic freedom: A time-series cross-section analysis. Constitutional Political Economy, 16, 327–346. doi:10.1007/s10602-005-4314-z.
Demsetz, H. (1967). Towards a theory of property rights. The American Economic Review, 57(2), 347–359.
Diamond, J. (1997). Guns, germs, and steel. The fates of human societies. New York: W.W. Norton. French translation, (2000). De l’inégalité parmi les sociétés. Essai sur l’homme et l’environnement dans l’histoire, nrf Gallimard, traduit de l’anglais par Pierre Emmanuel.
Dauzat, & Dumézil, B. (2005). Les racines chrétiennes de l’Europe. Conversion et liberté dans les royaumes barbares V et VIII siècle. Paris: Fayard.
Dumont, J. (1984). L’église au risque de l’histoire. Limoges: Criterion.
Facchini, F. (2002). Complex individualism and legitimacy of absolute property right. European Journal of Law and Economics, 13(1), 35–47. doi:10.1023/A:1013161808255.
Gendarme, R. (1959). “La résistance des facteurs socio-culturels au développement économique. L’exemple de l’Islam en Algérie. Revue économique, 10(2), 220–236.
Glahe, D., & Verhies, F. (1989). Religion, liberty and economic development: An empirical investigation. Public Choice, 62, 202–215. doi:10.1007/BF02337742.
Guiso, L. P., Sapienza, & Zinagles, L. (2003). People’s Opium? Religion and economic attitudes. Journal of Monetary Economics, 50, 225–282. doi:10.1016/S0304-3932(02)00202-7.
Guiso, L., Sapienza, P., & Zingales, L. (2006). Does culture affect economic outcomes? Working Paper NBER, 11999, http://www.nber.org/papers/w1199.
Habachy, S. (1962). Property, right, and contract in Muslim law. Columbia Law Review, 62(3), 450–473. doi:10.2307/1120053.
Hayek, F. A. (1952). The sensory order. An inquiry into the foundations of theoretical psychology. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
Hayek, F. A. (1973). Law, legislation and liberty (Vol.1). Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press.
Hayek, F. (1976). Law, legislation and liberty (Vol. 2). Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press. French version 1981, coll. Libre échange. Paris: PUF.
Hillman, A. L. (2007). Economic and security consequences of supreme values. Public Choice, 131, 259–280. doi:10.1007/s11127-007-9167-8.
Jomo, K. S. (1977). Islam and Weber: Rodinson on the implication of religion for capitalist development. The Developing Economies, 15(2), 240. doi:10.1111/j.1746-1049.1977.tb00380.x.
Jones, E. L. (1987). The European miracle environments, economies, and geopolitics in the history of Europe and Asia (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Kant, E. (1784, 1963), History from a cosmopolitan point of view. In Perpetual peace and other essays. Trans. Ted Humphrey. Indianapolis: Hackett, 1983, pp. 29–49.
Kennedy, P. (1988). The rise and fall of the great powers. Uwin Hyman Ltd London, 1989, 1991. French translation éditions Payot, Naissance et déclin des grandes puissances.
Khadduri, M. (1946). Human rights in Islam. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 243, 77–81. doi:10.1177/000271624624300115.
Kirzner, I. (1992). The meaning of market process: Essay in the development of modern Austrian economics. London: Routledge.
Kuran, T. (1997). Islam and underdevelopment: An old puzzle revisited. Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics, 153(1), French translation in Journal des économistes et des etudes humaines vol. 8, numéro 1, mars 1998, pp. 27–60, L’Islam et le sousdéveloppement: un vieux puzzle revisité.
Kuran, T. (2004). Why the Middle East is economically underdeveloped: Historical mechanism of institutional stagnation. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 18(3), 71–90.
Lewis, W. A. (1955). The theory of economic growth. London: George Allen and Unwin.
Lewis, B. (2005). L’Islam, Gallimard, “Islam et démocratie”, first publication in French, Notes de la Fondation Saint-Simon, June 1993.
Lewis, B. (2005). Ibid, “Le Langage politique de l’Islam”, initially published in English as The Political Language of Islam, The University of Chicago Press 1988, Gallimard for the French translation in 1988.
Linant de Bellefonds, Y. (1959). Un problème de sociologie juridique: les terres communes, en pays d’Islam. Studia Islamica, 10, 111–136.
Maila, J. (1991). Les droits de l’Homme sont-ils impensables dans le monde arabe?. Les Cahiers de l’Orient, 176–197.
Marshall, P. A. (2008). Religious Freedom in the World. Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, INC.
Mises, L. (1949). Human action: A treatise on economics. Chicago: Henry Regnery.
Montgomery Watt, M. (1968). Islamic political thought. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University. Translation in French (1995), la pensée politique de l’islam. Paris: PUF.
Moucannas-Mazen, R. (1996). Islam, droit et relations économiques internationales. Paris: L’Harmattan.
Noland, M. (2007). Religions, islam et croissance économique. L’apport des analyses empiriques. Revue Française de Gestion, 171, 97–118.
Noland, M., & Pack, H. (2007). The Arab economies in a changing world. Washington, DC: Peterson Institute for International Economics.
North, D. C. (1994). The historical evolution of polities. International Review of Law and Economics, 14, 381–391. doi:10.1016/0144-8188(94)90022-1.
North, D. C. (1998). The rise of the Western world. In P. Bernholz, M. E. Streit, & R. Vaubel (Eds.), Political competition, innovation and growth. Berlin-New York: Springer.
North, D. C., & Denzau, A. (1994). Shared mental models: Ideologies and institutions. Kyklos, 47, 3–31.
North, D. C., & Thomas, R. P. (1973). The rise of Western world: A new economic history. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Trad. fr. par J.M.Denis, L’essor du monde occidental: une nouvelle histoire économique, Flammarion, Paris, 1980.
Norton, S. W. (2000). The cost of diversity: Endogenous property rights and growth. Constitutional Political Economy, 11, 319–337. doi:10.1023/A:1026567305485.
Novak, M. (1982). The spirit of democratic capitalism. Translation in French (1987), Une éthique économique. Les valeurs de l’économie de marché, cerf, Institut La Boétie, Paris.
Paldam, M. (2007, 2008). An essay on the Muslim gap. Religiosity and the political system. In M. Ferrero & R. Wintrobe (eds.) The political economy of theocracy, in press.
Pejovich, S. (1994). The market for institutions vs. capitalism by Fiat. Kyklos, 47(4), 519–529. doi:10.1111/j.1467-6435.1994.tb02064.x.
Pryor, F. (2007). The economic impact of Islam on developing countries. World Development, 35(11), 1815–1835. doi:10.1016/j.worlddev.2006.12.004.
Ragab, I. A. (1980). Islam and development. World Development, 8(7–8), 513–521.
Renan, E. (1887, 1883). Discours et conférences, éd. C. Lévy, 1887, L’Islamisme et la Science (conférence prononcée à la Sorbonne, en 1883).
Renoux-Zagamé, N.-F. (1987). Origines Théologiques du Concept Moderne de Propriété, Droz.
Rodinson, M. (1966/1973). Islam and capitalism, trans. Brian Pearce, Pantheon Books, New York. Rodinson, M. (1966). Islam et capitalisme, éditions du Seuil. Paris.
Rosenberg, N., & Birdzell, L. E. (1986). How the West grew rich: The economic transformation of the industrial world. New York: Basic books.
Sala-I-Martin, X., Doppelhofer, G., & Miller, R. I. (2004). Determinants of long-term growth: A Bayesian averaging of classical estimates (BACE) approach. American Economic Review, 94(4), 813–835.
Schacht, J. (1964). An introduction to Islamic law. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Translation in French (1999), Introduction du droit musulman. Paris, Maisonneuve et Larose.
Scully, G. W. (1987). The choice of law and extent of liberty. Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics, 143(4), 595–615.
Stark, R. (2005, 2007). Le triomphe de la raison. Pourquoi la réussite du modèle occidental est le fruit du christianisme, Presses de la renaissance, French translation, (2005). New York: The Random House Publishing Group.
Stulz, R. M., & Williamson, R. (2003). Culture, openness and finance. Journal of Financial Economics, 70(3), 313–349.
Sutcliffe, C. R. (1975). Is Islam an obstacle to development? Ideal patterns of belief versus actual patterns of behaviour. Journal of Developing Areas, 10, 77–82.
Tierney, B. (1982). Religion, Law and the Growth of Constitutional Thought (1150-1650), The Wiles Lectures, The Queen’s University of Belfast, Cambridge University Press. Translation in French (1993), Religion et droit dans le développement de la pensée constitutionnelle, coll. Léviathan, Paris: PUF.
Tocqueville, A. (1840, 1986). De la Démocratie en Amérique. Paris: Robert Laffont, Bouquin.
Vaubel, R. (1998). Comment on Dennis Mueller. In P. Bernholz, M. E. Streit, & R. Vaubel (Eds.), Political competition, innovation and growth. Berlin-New York: Springer.
Voigt, S. (2005). Islam and the institutions of a free society. The Indenpendant Review, X(1), 59–82.
Weber, M. (1930). The protestant ethics and the spirit of capitalism. New York: Harper Collins.
Weber, M. (1996). Sociologie des religions. Textes réunis, traduits et présentés par Jean-Pierre Grossein, nrf, Gallimard, Paris.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Facchini, F. Religion, law and development: Islam and Christianity—Why is it in Occident and not in the Orient that man invented the institutions of freedom?. Eur J Law Econ 29, 103–129 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10657-009-9113-y
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10657-009-9113-y