CIAO DATE: 06/2009
February 2009
Structurally "limited statehood" and modes of regulation that are not centered on the state are not exclusive phenomena of the late 20th and early 21st century, but have existed long before. This working paper therefore advocates the application of the concept of governance to pre- and early modern societies. Following the recent discussion about early modern statehood, the perspective adopted here does not place a powerful monarchic absolutist state at the center of its interest, but rather focuses on the diversity of state dynamics and on the actors involved in these processes. The paper thus looks at the historically contingent development paths of a centralized exercise of power. Of particular interest in this context, however, is the heterogeneity of this development which is characterized by a non-synchronism of coexisting traditional and more modern governmental and administrative structures and by recurrent processes of negotiation of authority between different actors.
Resource link: Staatlichkeit und Governance im Zeitalter der europäischen Expansion [PDF] - 577K