Empowering Interactions - Political Cultures and the Emergence of the State in Europe 1300-1900

Zusatztext 'It is the genuine achievement of "Empowering Interactions" to provide perceptive discussion and material for this challenging turn in the studies of state formation.' Zeitschrift für Historische Forschung Informationen zum Autor Professor Dr Wim Blockmans, now retired from the University of Leiden, The Netherlands, Professor Dr André Holenstein, University of Berne, Switzerland and Professor Dr Jon Mathieu, University of Lucerne, Switzerland, Mr Daniel Schläppi, University of Berne, Switzerland. Klappentext The emergence of the state in Europe is a topic that has engaged historians since the establishment of the discipline of history. Yet the primary focus of has nearly always been to take a top-down approach, whereby the formation and consolidation of public institutions is viewed as the outcome of activities by princes and other social elites. Yet, as the essays in this collection show, such an approach does not provide a complete picture. By investigating the importance of local and individual initiatives that contributed to state building from the late middle ages through to the nineteenth century, this volume shows how popular pressure could influence those in power to develop new institutional structures. By not privileging the role of warfare and of elite coercion for state building, it is possible to question the traditional top-down model and explore the degree to which central agencies might have been more important for state representation than for state practice. The studies included in this collection treat many parts of Europe and deal with different phases in the period between the late middle ages and the nineteenth century. Beginning with a critical review of state historiography, the introduction then sets out the concept of 'empowering interactions' which is then explored in the subsequent case studies and a number of historiographical, methodological and theoretical essays. Taken as a whole this collection provides a fascinating platform to reconsider the relationships between top-down and bottom-up processes in the history of the European state. Zusammenfassung Includes the studies that treat many parts of Europe and deal with different phases in the period between the late middle ages and the nineteenth century. This collection provides a platform to reconsider the relationships between top-down and bottom-up processes in the history of the European state. Inhaltsverzeichnis Introduction: Empowering Interactions: Looking at Statebuilding from Below, André Holenstein; Part I Southern Europe; Chapter 1 The Construction of Local Political Identity in Lake and River Communities in North-West Italy, Twelfth to Fourteenth Centuries, Roberto Leggero; Chapter 2 Models of Government ‘from Below’ in Fifteenth-Century Lombardy. The ‘Capitoli di Dedizione’ to Francesco Sforza, 1447–1450, Giorgio Chittolini; Chapter 3 Models of Government ‘from Below’ in Fifteenth-Century Lombardy. The ‘Capitoli di Dedizione’ to Francesco Sforza, 1447–1450, Bertrand Forclaz; Chapter 4 The Politics of Mercy: Village Petitions and a Noblewoman’s Justice in the Roman Countryside in the Eighteenth Century, Caroline Castiglione; Chapter 5 The Dynamics of Law Formation in Italian Legal Science during the Early Modern Period: the Function of Custom, Roy Garré; Part II Central and Eastern Europe; Chapter 6 Threats from Above on Request from Below: Dynamics of the Territorial Administration of Berne, 1420–1450, Simon Teuscher; Chapter 7 Modes of Reading, Community Practice and the Constitution of Textual Authority in the Thurgau and Graubünden, 1520–1660, Randolph C. Head; Chapter 8 ‘God is high up, the Tsar is far away’. The Nature of Polity and Political Culture in Seventeenth-Century Russia. A Comparative View, Endre Sashalmi; Chapter 9 Communication between Authorities and Subjects in Bohemia, Hungary and the Holy German Empire, 1650–1800: A Comparison of Three Case S...

Product details

• Authors: Wim Blockmans, Wim Holenstein Blockmans, Daniel Schläppi
• Assisted by: André Holenstein (Editor)
• Publisher: ASHGATE PUB CO
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 28.03.2009
• EAN: 9780754664734
• ISBN: 978-0-7546-6473-4
• No. of pages: 340
• Subject: Humanities, art, music > History