True religion and nation building: a biblical perspective

Inside What ? Church , Culture , Religion and Insider Movements in Biblical Perspective

Nation - building

Nations stay together when citizens share enough values and preferences. Homogeneity amongst people can be built with education, teaching a common language to facilitate communication, but also by brute force such as prohibiting local cultures. Democracies and dictators have different incentives when it comes to choosing how much and by what means to homogenize the population. We study and we c...

Modernism and Nation Building

A Biblical Perspective on Interracial Marriage

One of the legacies of slavery in the United States is the lingering refusal of many white Christians to accept interracial marriages. This article will explore the biblical perspective regarding interracial or inter-ethnic marriage. First, a short overview will be presented discussing the problem of interracial marriage and reviewing the connection between the prohibition of interracial marria...

Nation-Building, Nationalism, and Wars∗

This paper explores how the increase in army size observed in early modern times changed the way states conducted wars. Starting in the late 18th century, states switched from mercenaries to a mass army by conscription. We model the incentives of soldiers to exert effort in war and show that as army size increases paying mercenaries is no longer optimal. In order for the population to accept fi...