The Catholic Church

The path of the Catholic Church is a great example of many of A&R's hypothesises. The Church can be seen as an extractive institution that underwent a critical juncture which eventually led to a change towards a more inclusive nature.

The Catholic Church in the 14th and 15th century was a very powerful and highly extractive institution. It preyed on the poor and the weak who sought redemption and peace in the church, so the Church became extremely rich through this extraction. This over-dominating power remained untouched until around year 1500 where Martin Luther challenged the church and its exploitation of the people. The Reformation was a critical juncture in which the Catholic church lost a great deal of its power as a large part of it split of into becoming protestants. This critical juncture led to the Counter-Reformation in 1545 which was the beginning of a more inclusive Catholic institution. One of the key creations of the Counter Reformation was the Council of Trent.

"The Council of Trent aimed to remedy the problems within the Catholic Church that had contributed to the Protestant Reformation. For instance, the Council sought to end clerical abuses and corruption, especially associated with the selling of indulgences."

From there on out, the power within the Catholic Church became more spread out, which lessoned the incentive for an extractive system.