European politics in the XVIII century

Ancien régime and Enlightenment

absolutisms
 Europe in 1650-1789. Different
designations
u ‘Age of absolutism’ – rising monarchical authority vis-à-vis the
nobility
u ’Ancien régime’ – sovereign power unconstrained by
representative institutions, absence of written constitution
u ‘Enlightened absolutism’ – declarative commitment of monarchies
to progress and ideas of Enlightenment, systemic attempts to apply
the best recent knowledge to the task of ruling and to improve the
condition of the subjects
u Age of fiscal-military states – increasing power of the state in
taxation and growth of armies.
 Political regimes

Absolutist Constitutional
u Spain u Dutch republic (representative assembly –
Estates)
u France
u Great Britain
u Russia 1688 – Glorious revolution. James II was
deposed. Instead – William of Orange and Mary.
u German principalities (Prussia) New settlement – shared sovereignty between
u Denmark king and parliament, Bill of Rights (prohibition of
royal interference in the making of laws, of
u Savoy-Piedmont creation of the army into the peacetime, of
taxation without the consent of the parliament)
u Austria
u Poland
u Sweden
Charles Le Brun, The King governs by himself (about Louis XIV),
Hall of Mirrors, Palace of Versaille
 The issue of absolutism
u The term ‘absolutism’ was invented at the end of the 18th c. during the
French revolution. (absolutism = despotism)
u Difference between ‘constitutional’ and ‘absolutist’ regimes was not so
radical.
u Royal power could not be limited in the sphere of royal prerogative (foreign
policy, appointment of officials, convention of the estates, collection of
royal revenue, regulation of trade and coinage) – this is what the monarchs
could do without consultation
u Monarch was not answerable to his subjects.
u Monarchy was understood as policy-making in the hands of the monarch
or the people appointed by him/her. Constitutional arrangements (Russia in
1730, Sweden in 1720) were rejected as violating this rule.
 The issue of absolutism

u Monarchs had to rely on support of their subjects and their

consent (compromise)
u Existing political structures put limits on the level of actual
monarchical control in terms of legislation and taxation.
u Monarchs could not abolish privileges of nobility and other
corporations and could not infringe on their property without
their consent
 Social forces in Ancien
Régime
u System of estates (1st – clergy,
2nd –nobility, 3rd – commoners)
or corporations (bureaucrats,
lawyers)
u Access to power, law and
privileges is defined by status
(nobles did not pay taxes)
u Restricted political participation
(power mainly monopolized by
nobility)
 Fiscal-military states
u From ‘domain state (revenue is obtained from royal lands)
to ’tax state’
u Military revolution (1550-1720)-larger and costly standing
armies
u Expensive wars
u Governments began to borrow on a larger scale – public
debt in Dutch republic and Great Britain (wars were
financed by means of public loans and regular taxation)
u expansion of tax revenue — from direct to indirect taxes
u new administrative structures to oversee both the
expanding military establishment and the fiscal one -
expansion of professional bureaucracy
u early types of budgets (accounts of expenditures and
revenues)
u Western Europe – reliance on taxes; Central Europe –
reliance on extraction of men (recruiting system in
Sweden, Russia, Prussia, Austria)
 u Great Powers in the ‘long eighteenth
century’ - Austria, France, Great Britain,
Ottoman Empire, Russia, and Sweden
u Main rivalries: Great Britain vs France
(’second hundred years war’ – 1689-
1815) ; Austria vs Prussia
u Balance of power – no power could
achieve absolute domination in Europe
(alliances should resist it)
u European wars spread beyond Europe
into colonies

Europe in 1763
 Main conflicts
The Nine Years War (1688–97)

The Great Northern War (1700-21)

The War of the Spanish Succession (1701–13/14)

The War of the Polish Succession (1733–35/38)

The War of the Austrian Succession (1740–48)

The Seven Years War (1756–63)

Partition of Poland (1772-1795)
 Administration of taxation

England Continental Europe

u Tax collection was in charge of u Understaffed countries (Prussia - 3000); United
centrally appointed government Provinces - 300-350.
officials. u France:
u Tax collection was discussed in the u private tax farming (tax farmers paid in advance in
Parliament including the reports and exchange for sustaining surplus). Private tax
the accounts (accountability of tax farmers are not accountable to the public
officials) u No parliamentary discussion of the taxation
 Enlightenment

John Locke (1632-1704) Voltaire (1694-1778) Charles Montesquieu Denis Diderot

(1689-1755) (1713-1784)
 What is Enlightenment?

• Heterogeneous intellectual movement across Europe (1690-1789)

• “Enlightenment is man’s leaving his self-caused immaturity. Immaturity
is the incapacity to use one's intelligence without the guidance of
another. Such immaturity is self-caused if it is not caused by lack of
intelligence, but by lack of determination and courage to use one's
intelligence without being guided by another. Sapere Aude! (Dare to
Know) Have the courage to use your own intelligence! is therefore the
motto of the enlightenment”. (Immanuel Kant, ‘What is
Englightenment’, 1784)
• Both a liberating movement leading to revolutions of the second half of
the 18th c. and a movement which supported elevation of the
state/society over individual; legitimized contemporary social and
political hierarchies; justified European domination and colonialism.
Immanuel Kant
1724-1804
 Key ideas
u Criticism of religious authority: promotion of religious pluralism (if not toleration),
understanding that faith and reason are not interconnected, understanding that separation of
the state from the church is beneficial
u Championing of science and human reason (rationalism)
u Individualism and natural rights (life, liberty, property (John Locke)
u Criticism of despotism and tyranny
Charles Montesquieu “Spirit of Laws” – separation of powers (legislative, executive,
judicial). Moderates - monarchy would carry out reform. Radicals – principle of popular
sovereignty (Jean Jacques Rousseau)
u Social contract between the ruler and the ruled
u Educational reform
u Intellectual justification of colonialism and social hierarchies: justification of racism, innate
cultural differences.
Enlightened thinkers did not advocate expansion of rights to non-Europeans, men who were
poor and uneducated, or women
 Enlightened absolutism

u Enlightened absolutism – monarchical rule influenced by Enlightened rationality. The purpose of the monarchy is
to improve the conditions of the subjects (implementations of the reform) and to rationalize the government.
u Reformers: Prussia - Frederick the Great ( 1740--86); Russia - Catherine the Great (1762-96); Austria - Maria
Theresa (1745-1780); Joseph II (1780-90); Tuscany – Leopold II (1765-1790); Sweden - Gustav III ( 1771-92);
Spain - Charles III (1759-88)
u Reforms in order to preserve power and foster obedience
u Influence of cameralism - primacy of a state’s wealth and the prosperity of its subjects; necessity for the rulers to
regulate the lives of the subjects in considerable detail (health, hygiene, morals and education – well – ordered
police state (first police in France).
u Rising responsibilities of the state – from poor relief to morality of the citizens. More information about the
citizens. Police was regarded as means for connecting strengthening and increasing the powers of the state with
the happiness of its subjects which the police has to procure.
u Influence of Cesare Beccaria: liberalization of criminal code in order to protect the rights of the accused
u Liberal reforms implemented in an authoritarian manner – from above
 Frederick the Great
ü Goal – “to make people as happy as is compatible with
human nature and the means at my disposal”
ü a ruler is only “the first servant of the state”
ü Liberation of the serfs of the royal domains and abolition of
the lords’ right to punish their peasant physically
ü Administrative reform - an examination system to govern
entry
ü Law code – religious conscience including toleration of Jews
ü Confirmation of the privileges of the nobility
 Maria Theresa and Joseph II
• Administrative centralization
• New Criminal code abolishing
death penalty and liberalizing
criminal law.
• Educational reform (compulsory
primary school)
• Limited religious toleration
• Abolition of serfdom
Catherine the Great
u Nakaz 1767: a commission to examine the possibility of
codifying Russian law which included representatives of free
estates
u Statute of Local Administration of 1775: principle of
representation of estates in localities
u Police Ordinance of 1782: regulation of daily life in the towns
and cities
u Building society of orders – charters to the nobility (1785)
and towns (1785)
u Educational reform (system of high schools and junior
schools, free, secular, co-educational, open to all classes)
u creation of hospitals and orphanages
u Rejection of the attempts to abolish serfdom
u Censorship
 Emergence of ‘public space’ and
’public opinion’
• New public places (literary
circles, salons, and
coffeehouses)where people
could discuss politics and
diversification of print culture
• increasing role of public opinion
• Dissemination of oppositional
ideas across society
Thank you for attention!

William
Hogarth,
Beer
street
and Gin
Lane,
1751