Patterns in the History of Polycentric Governance in European Cities
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About this book
The autonomy granted to local communities (such as towns, municipalities, and city-states) by larger, central powers (such as empires, kings, lords, and central states) is a recurrent feature of European history over time, from Antiquity to the contemporary period. This volume explores the political, social, and cultural aspects of this feature in a diachronic and comparative perspective, from the Roman Empire to today’s city partnerships. To this end, it uses the concept of polycentric governance. Originally developed by political economist Vincent Ostrom in the 1960s and then expanded by the 2009 winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, political scientist Elinor Ostrom, this concept characterises the interdependent system of relations between different actors involved in a process and, for that reason, it is frequently used in policy studies. This volume applies the concept of polycentric governance to historical studies as a heuristic device to analyse the multilayer systems into which cities were integrated at various points in European history, as well as the implications of the coexistence of different political structures. Fourteen chapters examine the structures, the dynamics, and the discourse of polycentric governance through various case studies from the Roman Empire, from medieval towns, from early modern Europe, and from contemporary cities. The volume suggests that for extended periods of time throughout European history, polycentric governance has played a pivotal role in the organisation and distribution of political power.
Author / Editor information
Topics
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Frontmatter
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Acknowledgements
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Contents
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Introduction
1 - I Rome and Her Cities – The Polycentric Empire
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The Dynamics of Dual-level Governance in the Roman Empire, First–Third Centuries CE: Incremental Permeation and Occasional Intrusions of Roman Normativity in Local Life
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The Actors of the Roman Imperial System and Their Mobility: Personal Relationships and Official Communication in the Early Empire
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Bilateral Relations, Federal Organisations, and Peer-Polity Interaction Within the Provinces of the Roman Empire
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The Self-presentation of the Greek Cities in Roman Imperial Asia Minor
79 - II Intersections of Polycentricity – The Medieval Towns
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Performative Self-representation of City Governments
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Securing Troops and Organising War by and between Communal States in the Swiss Confederation, 1350–1550
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Political Governance and ‘Civil Concord’ in Venice: The Experience of the Humanist and Ambassador Ermolao Barbaro (1454–1492)
139 - III The Polycentric Age – Early Modern Towns and the Patterns of Power
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Beyond the Town Hall: Sites of Political Representation in Early Modern Europe
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Polycentric Diplomacy? Actors and Levels of Foreign Policy in the Hanseatic Cities (Seventeenth–Eighteenth Centuries)
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Cities, Princes, and the Politics of Alliance in the Early Modern Holy Roman Empire
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The Composite City: Cities, Power Elites, and States in Early Modern European History
205 - IV The Contemporary City – Polycentric Disorder?
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Economic Boom, Environmental Crisis, and Polycentric Governance in a Transnational Perspective: Cities and States in Struggle along the Upper Rhine in the Late Nineteenth and the Late Twentieth Century
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“As Easy as Turning on the Tap”: Experiences of Water Usage in the City, 1918–1939
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Sister Cities and Urban Diplomacy Today
285 -
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List of Contributors
299 -
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Index Nominum
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Index Rerum
309
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