Forging a Multinational State: State Making in Imperial Austria from the Enlightenment to the First World War (Stanford Studies on Central and Eastern Europe)

Synopsis

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 Neighbouring 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 Manoeuverings, 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. 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. John Deak. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.