Jumping the Gun: How Dictators Got Ahead of Their Subjects

Hariri, Jacob Gerner; Wingender, Asger Mose

doi:10.1093/ej/ueac073

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…Historians and social scientists have long identified military technological shocks as the potential causes behind momentous historical developments, like the rise of feudalism (White, 1962) or that of the modern nation-state (Gennaioli & Voth, 2015). Recent work by Hariri and Wingender (2023) suggests that the influence of changes in military technology on political institutions is not a thing of the distant past. New weapons travel faster than the rule of law or constitutionalism and have worked to strengthen despotic regimes all over the world in the last two centuries.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A theory of the city‐state: The rise and decline of the rule of law in Medieval Italy

Piano

2023

Kyklos

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We leverage theoretical insights from political economy to study several aspects of the institutional development of the Italian city‐states during the High Middle Ages (1000–1350). A society's regime type depends on its domestic balance of power. When the ruled can credibly threaten to punish a rogue ruler, the rule of law prevails. If the ruler can easily overpower the ruled, despotism results instead. The transition from one regime to the other results when exogenous shocks and endogenous dynamics disturb the prevailing balance of power. This framework accounts for the rise and eventual decline of rule of law regimes in the towns of central and northern Italy between the 10th and 14th centuries.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%