Introduction: Parliamentarism in the age of absolutism

István M. Szijártó, Wim Blockmans, László Kontler

Research output: Contribution to Book/Report typesChapterpeer-review

Abstract (may include machine translation)

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book investigates the history of the representative assemblies of Sweden, Poland and Hungary in the final period of the ancien régime, concentrating both on how these political machineries worked and on the ideologies and other factors that motivated the members of these parliaments. It explores the practices and ideas of parliamentarism and constitutionalism. The book addresses the basic institutional arrangements and the appropriate institutional practices of the riksdag, the sejm and the diaeta, in some cases by means of surveys, in others through case studies, identifying the key agents in politics. It exposes the problems of the common good occupying a central place in both the political language of enlightened governance and that of republicanism, as spoken by the estates. The book also explains how the aristocracy abandoned the parliamentary system and came to support the re-introduction of royal absolutism in Sweden.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationParliamentarism in Northern and East-Central Europe in the Long Eighteenth Century
Subtitle of host publicationVolume I: Representative Institutions and Political Motivation
PublisherTaylor and Francis
Pages1-13
Number of pages13
ISBN (Electronic)9781000647365
ISBN (Print)9781032071411
DOIs
StatePublished - 30 Sep 2022

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