In the tradition of Why Nations Fail this book solves one of the great puzzles of history: Why
did the West become the most powerful civilization in the world? Western exceptionalism—the
idea that European civilizations are freer wealthier and less violent—is a widespread and
powerful political idea. It has been a source of peace and prosperity in some societies and of
ethnic cleansing and havoc in others. Yet in The Invention of Power Bruce Bueno de Mesquita
draws on his expertise in political maneuvering deal-making and game theory to present a
revolutionary new theory of Western exceptionalism: that a single rarely discussed event in
the twelfth century changed the course of European and world history. By creating a compromise
between churches and nation-states that in effect traded money for power and power for money
the 1122 Concordat of Worms incentivized economic growth facilitated secularization and
improved the lot of the citizenry all of which set European countries on a course for
prosperity. In the centuries since countries that have had a similar dynamic of competition
between church and state have been consistently better off than those that have not. The
Invention of Power upends conventional thinking about European culture religion and race and
presents a persuasive new vision of world history.
