Forging a multinational state : state making in imperial Austria from the Enlightenment to the First World War / John Deak.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Deák, John (John David), author.

Series:

Stanford studies on Central and Eastern Europe.

Stanford Studies on Central and Eastern Europe

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Habsburg, House of.

Austria--Politics and government--1848-1918.

Austria.

Austria--Politics and government--1740-1848.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (374 p.)

Place of Publication:

Stanford, California : Stanford University Press, 2015.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The Habsburg Monarchy ruled over approximately one-third of Europe for almost 150 years. Previous books on the Habsburg Empire emphasize its slow decline in the face of the growth of neighboring nation-states. John Deak, instead, argues that the state was not in eternal decline, but actively sought not only to adapt, but also to modernize and build. Deak has spent years mastering the structure and practices of the Austrian public administration and has immersed himself in the minutiae of its codes, reforms, political maneuverings, and culture. He demonstrates how an early modern empire made up of disparate lands connected solely by the feudal ties of a ruling family was transformed into a relatively unitary, modern, semi-centralized bureaucratic continental empire. This process was only derailed by the state of emergency that accompanied the First World War. Consequently, Deak provides the reader with a new appreciation for the evolving architecture of one of Europe's Great Powers in the long nineteenth century.

Contents:

The dynamics of Austrian governance, 1780-1848

The madness of Count Stadion, or, Austria between revolution and reaction

The reforging of the Habsburg state, 1849-1859

State building on a new track : Austria in the 1860s

The years of procedure, 1868-1900

Bureaucracy and democracy in the final decades of the monarchy, 1890-1914

Epilogue : the state of exception : Austria's descent into the twentieth century.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780804795937

0804795932

OCLC:

915562590