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Towards an economic interpretation of citizenship: The Dutch Republic between medieval communes and modern nation-states

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 July 2006

JAN LUITEN VAN ZANDEN  and
MAARTEN PRAK
JAN LUITEN VAN ZANDEN
Affiliation:
International Institute of Social History, Cruquiusweg 31, 1019 AT, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
MAARTEN PRAK
Affiliation:
Institute of History, Utrecht University, Kromme Nieuwegracht 66, 3512 HL, The Netherlands
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Abstract

Citizenship was a key concept in European state formation from the Middle Ages onwards. This article presents an economic interpretation of citizenship. It argues that such a contract increases the efficiency of the exchange between the state and its inhabitants. Next, the concept of citizenship is applied to the political economy of the Dutch Republic, which was an ‘intermediate’ stage in the process of state formation between the medieval commune (with a restricted form of citizenship) and the nation-state of the nineteenth century, when the concept became more inclusive, covering all inhabitants. The article briefly sketches the genesis of the Dutch Republic and identifies some of the key problems of its political economy.

Type
Research Article
Information
European Review of Economic History , Volume 10 , Issue 2 , August 2006 , pp. 111 - 145
Copyright
Cambridge University Press 2006

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