Why do institutions that begin as federations, with power located in (semi-)autonomous units, have a tendency to concentrate power in a central executive authority over time? Prof. Ken Kollman, professor of political science at the University of Michigan and author of Perils of Centralization, discusses his theory of institutional centralization, which he has applied to such entities as the United States, the European Union, and General Motors. For our purposes, though, we concentrate on his theory’s application to the Roman Catholic Church over the past century and a half.
Our conversation begins with a discussion of how Prof. Kollman became interested in this project and how it came to include the Catholic Church as an important case study. He mentions having examined a number of different cases including the Roman Empire and the Iroquois Nation, but explains how he came to concentrate on the US, EU, GM, and the Catholic Church. Tony praises Ken’s examination of the Catholic Church using the tools of political science given that few scholars apply those theoretical and conceptual tools to one of the world’s oldest governing institution. We ruminate about the comparisons of apples and oranges a bit. Ken also provides a bit of a confessional background regarding his own Catholic faith and his brother’s choice to become a priest.
Read Full Article »