Birth of the leviathan : building states and regimes in medieval and early modern Europe / Thomas Ertman
- Author
- Ertman, Thomas
- Published
- Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 1997.
- Physical Description
- 1 online resource (xii, 363 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).
Access Online
- Contents
- I. Introduction. Early Modern States: Four Types. Competing Explanations. Explaining Variations in Early Modern States: The Argument -- 2. The Origins of Patrimonial Absolutism in Latin Europe. The Late Roman Empire and Early State Formation in Visigoth Spain, Lombard Italy, and Merovingian and Carolingian Gaul. Economic and Ecclesiastical Renewal and the Rebirth of Royal Power in Latin Europe. Early Geopolitical Competition, Representative Assemblies, and the Creation of Systems of National Taxation. The Impact of War and Taxes on Finance and Administration: The Beginnings of Patrimonial Absolutism -- 3. The Triumph of Patrimonial Absolutism and the Failure of Reform in Latin Europe, c. 1500-1789. War and the Triumph of Patrimonial Absolutism in France, 1494-1659. Patrimonial Absolutism in Iberia and Italy, 1492-1789. The "Reform" of Patrimonial Absolutism Under Colbert and Louis XIV, 1660-1714. Geopolitical Pressures, the Failure of Reform, and the End of Patrimonial Absolutism, 1715-1791 -- 4. Bureaucratic Constitutionalism in Britain. Unencumbered State Formation, Early Geopolitical Pressure, and a Precocious Attempt at Shared Rule, c. 400-1453. Deepening Patrimonialism and Its Temporary Demise, 1453-1659. The Restoration and the English "Revolution in Government," 1660-1688. The Consolidation of the New British State After 1689 -- 5. Bureaucratic Absolutism in Germany. Failed Dark Age Statebuilding, Empire, and the Emergence of Territorial States in Germany, 511-c. 1450. Representative Institutions, Geopolitical Competition, and the Consolidation of Bureaucratic Absolutism in the German Territorial States, c. 1450-1789. The Limits and Contradictions of Bureaucratic Absolutism: The Case of Brandenburg-Prussia -- 6. The Triumph of Patrimonial Constitutionalism in Hungary and Poland and its Premature Demise in Scandinavia. Unencumbered State Formation and the Consolidation of Local Elite Self-Government in Hungary and Poland, c. 1000-1387. The Advent of Sustained Geopolitical Competition and the Triumph of Patrimonial Constitutionalism in Hungary and Poland, 1387-1648. Internal and External Threats to Patrimonial Constitutionalism in Hungary and Poland, 1648-1795. Abortive Patrimonial Constitutionalism in Scandinavia -- 7. Conclusion.
- Summary
- For many years scholars have sought to explain why the European states which emerged in the period before the French Revolution developed along such different lines. Why did some become absolutist and others constitutionalist? What enabled some to develop bureaucratic administrative systems, while others remained dependent upon patrimonial practices? This book presents a new theory of state-building in medieval and early modern Europe. Ertman argues that two factors - the organisation of local government at the time of state formation and the timing of sustained geo-military competition - can explain most of the variation in political regimes and in state infrastructures found across the continent during the second half of the eighteenth century. Drawing on insights developed in historical sociology, comparative politics, and economic history, this book makes a compelling case for the value of interdisciplinary approaches to the study of political development.
- Subject(s)
- ISBN
- 9780511529016 (ebook)
9780521482226 (hardback)
9780521484275 (paperback) - Note
- Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).
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