Publisher's Synopsis
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 which exerted responsibility in an extractive and abusive way. Instead, this book takes a closer look at how Wallachia functioned, examining how its means to interact 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 argues 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) of the region. The author also explores the concept of early modern state formation, arguing that this took place in Wallachia in the absence of preparation for war. The book emphasises instead the dynamics of administrative extension triggered by fiscal and agrarian crises. Acknowledging the role of informal networks in state formation, and the importance of deconstructing the coherence of the state, 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.
