Het verdeelde Europa. Bourgeoisie, commercieel kapitalisme en staatsvorming in de vroeg-moderne periode

Samenvatting

Fragmented Europe. The Bourgeoisie, Commercial Capitalism and State Formation in the Early Modern Period. Europe's high world position is often seen as the result of the development of the bourgeoisie, whose central role in the establishment of capitalism and the modern state made the ascendant European social structure unique. However, it is argued that capitalism and the modern state did not develop evenly or simultaneously. Early modern Europe contained two separate social systems -- the commercial town and the territorial state -- each with different structures and operative mechanisms that made them mutually exclusive. The towns were concentrated in a broad belt running from Italy to the North Sea and Baltic coasts, while the territorial states were located to the west and east of the central zone of urbanization. The two systems implied different forms of political dominance and roles for the bourgeois elites. In the cities, the bourgeoisie's dominance was founded on the political autonomy of the merchant cities; in the national states, it was based on the bureaucracy. Historical empirical evidence drawn from Denmark, France, Germany, and the Netherlands supports this perspective. 69 References. Adapted from the source document.