Burghers versus Bureaucrats
Enlightened Centralism, the Royal Towns, and the Case of the Propinacja Law in Poland-Lithuania, 1776-1793
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4214146 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Curtis G Murphy (corresponding author), Curtis G Murphy Curtis G Murphy |
| Year | 2012 |
| Volume | 71 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 385-409 |
| Publication date | 2012-01-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Slavic Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0037-6779 • E-ISSN: 2325-7784 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0037677900013668 |
| OpenAlex | W2498790731, W4231254439 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 8 |
In the eighteenth-century, European rulers embraced a common policy of enlightened centralism aimed at undermining the prerogatives of local self-government, a trend that even reached the decentralized Polish- Lithuanian Commonwealth. In this article, Curtis G. Murphy investigates an example of an Enlightenment centralist policy that failed. A new reformist king sought to convert the burghers' right to produce alcohol, known as propinacja , into a state-controlled monopoly, but the effort produced only chaos and the diminishment of self-government. Contrary to the center's complaint that insufficient force undermined a beneficial effort, Murphy argues that the law failed because the priorities of the locals did not align with the government's goals and the habits of selfgovernment clashed with the bureaucratic methods of enlightened centralism. Historians of Poland have often praised the centralizing reforms of the late-eighteenth century, but the case of the propinacja law questions whether such efforts justified the costs of destroying self-government in the towns
Ancient history · Bureaucracy · Centralized government · Commoner · Commonwealth · Economic history · Economics · Enlightenment · Government (linguistics · Market economy · Monopoly · Political science · Politics · State (computer science · Historical and Cultural Studies of Poland · Historical Geopolitical and Social Dynamics · History · Law · Philosophy · Polish Historical and Cultural Studies · Post-Communist Economic and Political Transition · Public Administration · Soviet and Russian History
The well-ordered police state
The Royal Provincial Intendants
Napoleon's Integration of Europe.
Society, Government, and the Enlightenment
Freedom and Growth
Decentralisation and Regionalisation after Communism
Russian Centralism and Ukrainian Autonomy
Jews and the Urban Question in Late Eighteenth Century Poland
| Highly cited | No |
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