In a paper circulated towards the end of 1997 under the title Why Europe?, Gordon Tullock
poses a simple question and provides a tentative, yet provocative answer. The question is why
the technological take off took place in Europe and in the 19th century when well into the
18th century other areas of the world, and notably China, looked much better poised for
technological and scholarly leadership than Europe. His tentative answer turns on the
constitutional composition of the landscape of political entities in Europe. This essay tries to
provide some further underpindings to aspects of Gordon Tullock's preliminary answer.