In today’s episode I’m talking with Anna Grzymala-Busse, professor of political science at Stanford university. We talk about her book Sacred Foundations in which she looks at the role of the Catholic Church in European state formation. We discuss how the church was and was not like a state at the height of its power, and talk about its long historical influence, both on the particular shape of Western European political fragmentation, and on the political and legal institutions of medieval and early modern polities.
Produced by Helen LaGrand; Music by Yasha Mostert
