2 - Gaining Force

Summary

Fiscal fragmentation and absolutism plagued Old Regime states. This chapter examines fiscal centralization, the first fundamental political transformation that European states underwent. It begins by characterizing the problem of fiscal fragmentation in both qualitative and quantitative terms. It then describes the coding process for institutional reform and identifies the dates for fiscal centralization for each sample country.

The Fragmented Old Regime

Most polities in Europe were fiscally fragmented before the nineteenth century. Contrary to the conventional wisdom, early modern monarchs confronted a host of incumbent local institutions that reduced their fiscal powers. To illustrate, this section examines France, Spain, the Netherlands, and England, four of the most celebrated cases in the literature on state formation in Europe.