Book contents
- Public Interest and State Legitimation
- Cambridge Studies in Historical Sociology
- Public Interest and State Legitimation
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Sources of Early Modern State Resilience
- Part II The Emergence of Modern Politics
- Prologue
- 5 A Political “Great Divergence”
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
Prologue
Limits to Early Modern State Resilience
from Part II - The Emergence of Modern Politics
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 November 2023
Book contents
- Public Interest and State Legitimation
- Cambridge Studies in Historical Sociology
- Public Interest and State Legitimation
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Sources of Early Modern State Resilience
- Part II The Emergence of Modern Politics
- Prologue
- 5 A Political “Great Divergence”
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
The prologue to Part II synthesizes the major causes of the resilience of early modern states despite their limited capacities. It explores the conditions that led to the collapse of state–society collaboration in pursuit of good governance. Big historical events – the English Civil War, the Meiji Restoration, and the Taiping Rebellion – forced the state in each case to search for new institutions to safeguard various dimensions of the public interest in the new socioeconomic circumstances and so reestablish its legitimacy.
Keywords
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- Chapter
- Information
- Public Interest and State LegitimationEarly Modern England, Japan, and China, pp. 185 - 192Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023