Regulations, Paperwork and Metrology Olaru, Vasile Mihai. creator author. aut http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/relators/aut SpringerLink (Online service) text sz 2024 1st ed. 2024. monographic eng

electronic

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access XVII, 351 p. 17 illus., 15 illus. in color. online resource. This book explores the transformation of the state in Wallachia, an Ottoman tributary principality, between 1740 and 1800 by focusing on three administrative techniques: regulations, paperwork (registers, identification certificates), and weights and measures. The implementation by the central power of regulations, bookkeeping, certificates, and standard units of measurement was not smooth, but it nevertheless heralded the beginning of the struggle against localism and the efforts to extend the boundaries of legitimate state action. The author challenges the (mostly Romanian) historiography of the Phanariot period, which has portrayed the state as a set of institutions undertaking certain responsibilities and has insisted almost exclusively on its extractive function and abusive character. Instead, this book takes a closer look at how the Wallachian state functioned, examining how its means of interacting with its subjects changed in the second half of the eighteenth century. Rethinking the problem of the state in eighteenth-century Wallachia, traditionally regarded as a mere instrument of Ottoman domination, it claims that it was precisely during this time that the bases of modern statehood were laid in a context defined by imperial rivalries (Ottoman, Habsburg, Russian) in the region. Making the case for state formation in the absence of preparation for war, the author also stresses, in contrast to recent contributions that decentre the state, the need to study the process whereby the effect of state coherence is produced. While focusing on Wallachia, this book provides valuable reading for those interested in early modern administrative and legal history, the history of state formation, and Southeast European history more generally. Vasile Mihai Olaru is a researcher at the “George Bariţiu” Institute of History of the Romanian Academy, Romania. His research interests include early modern history, state formation, the history of corruption, and historiography. Previously, he studied at Central European University in Budapest, where he received his PhD. Introduction -- 2. Wallachia in the Early Modern Period and Transformation in the Eighteenth Century -- 3. From Local Custom to Written Law: Agrarian Regulations and State Infrastructural Growth -- 4. From Private Charter to Stature: The Fiscal Regulations -- 5. Paperwork: Immobile Instruments for Storing Information -- 6. Mobile Instruments for Storing Information -- 7. The Standardization of Weights and Measures -- 8. Conclusions. by Vasile Mihai Olaru. Europe History 1492- Imperialism Law History World politics World history History of Early Modern Europe Imperialism and Colonialism Legal History Political History World History, Global and Transnational History D203.2-475 9783031596261 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-59626-1 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-59626-1 241221 20251030114632.0 978-3-031-59626-1