Birth of the Leviathan: Building States and Regimes in Medieval and Early Modern Europe - Hardcover

by Thomas Ertman (Author), Ertman Thomas (Author)

For many years scholars have sought to explain why the European states that emerged in the period before the French Revolution developed along such different lines. Why did some states 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--local government and sustained geo-military competition--can explain most of the variation found across the continent.

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This book presents a new theory of statebuilding in medieval and early modern Europe. Ertman argues that two factors - the organization of local government at the time of state formation and the timing of sustained geomilitary competition - can explain most of the variation in political regimes and in state infrastructures found across the continent during the second half of the 18th century. Drawing on theoretical insights developed in the fields of historical sociology, comparative politics, and economic history, and on the most recent historical research, this book makes a compelling case for the value of interdisciplinary approaches to the study of political development.