Category Archives: State Development Theory

On Payment Systems and Control of State Finances

Posted on February 2, 2025 by briansandberg

Elon Musk and his so-called DOGE team of unelected officials, who are mostly drawn from the tech business sector, now have access to the U.S. Department of Treasury system that handles payment of all federal government payments to individuals and … Continue reading →

Posted in Legal history, Public History, State Development Theory, United States History and Society | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Would-be King Trump

Posted on January 22, 2025 by briansandberg

President Trump’s inauguration ceremonies in Washington, D.C., have been filled with royal rhetoric and regal symbolism, promoting the new President as a would-be king. The New York Times reports that “At a late-night inaugural ball on Monday, President Trump, flush … Continue reading →

Posted in Court Studies, Cultural History, Early Modern Europe, Early Modern France, Early Modern World, Empires and Imperialism, French History, History of the Western World, Monarchies and Royal States, Noble Culture and History of Elites, Political Culture, Political Theory, Renaissance Art and History, State Development Theory, United States History and Society | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

On Political Favor and Conflicts of Interest

Posted on January 17, 2025 by briansandberg

On President-elect Trump’s glaring conflicts of interest…. “During his first administration, President-elect Donald J. Trump’s global business empire created an unprecedented number of conflicts of interest for a sitting president. Ethics experts worried that opportunists could try to curry favor … Continue reading →

Posted in Court Studies, Early Modern Europe, Early Modern France, Early Modern World, European History, French History, Noble Culture and History of Elites, Political Culture, Political Theory, Reformation History, Renaissance Art and History, State Development Theory, United States History and Society | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Royalty, Territorial Claims, and International Politics

Posted on January 6, 2025 by briansandberg

Early modern issues of royal heraldry and territorial claims have reemerged in contemporary international politics. The King of Denmark is changing his coat of arms, provoking surprise among European political analysts and historians. The Guardian reports that “The Danish king … Continue reading →

Posted in Cultural History, Early Modern Europe, Early Modern World, Empires and Imperialism, European History, European Studies, European Union, European Wars of Religion, History of Violence, Medieval History, Monarchies and Royal States, Museums and Historical Memory, Political Culture, Political Theory, Reformation History, Renaissance Art and History, State Development Theory, Strategy and International Politics, Warfare in the Early Modern World | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Pension Reform in France

Posted on March 20, 2023 by briansandberg

The French government and its Prime Minister, Élisabeth Borne, have survived a no-confidence vote in the National Assembly. Borne heads a government led by President Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance Party (formerly known as La République en Marche !). The no-confidence vote … Continue reading →

Posted in Contemporary France, Crowd Studies, European History, European Studies, European Union, French History, Political Activism and Protest Culture, Political Culture, State Development Theory | Leave a comment

Queen Elizabeth II has Died

Posted on September 8, 2022 by briansandberg

Queen Elizabeth II has died. I am not a royal family watcher, but this is clearly a major historical event in British, European, and World history. History professors, students, and researchers working on monarchy, court culture, state development, and empire … Continue reading →

Posted in Court Studies, Early Modern Europe, Early Modern World, Empires and Imperialism, European History, European Studies, History in the Media, Political Culture, State Development Theory, Strategy and International Politics, World History | Leave a comment

Femmes à la cour de France

Posted on February 14, 2022 by briansandberg

Tracy Adams has published a review of a collective volume on Femmes à la cour de France, edited by Caroline zum Kolk and Kathleen Wilson. I was pleased to write an essay for this collective volume on noblewomen from the … Continue reading →

Posted in Civil Conflict, Court Studies, Early Modern Europe, Early Modern France, Early Modern World, European History, European Wars of Religion, French History, French Wars of Religion, Gender and Warfare, Noble Culture and History of Elites, Paris History, Reformation History, Renaissance Art and History, State Development Theory, Warfare in the Early Modern World, Women and Gender History | Leave a comment

Is the United States Close to Civil War?

Posted on December 18, 2021 by briansandberg

Dana Milbank explores this provocative question in an op-ed in the Washington Post. The op-ed focuses on political science methods for considering how civil wars start: “Barbara F. Walter, a political science professor at the University of California at San … Continue reading →

Posted in Civil Conflict, Crowd Studies, History in the Media, History of Violence, Political Activism and Protest Culture, Political Culture, Revolts and Revolutions, State Development Theory, United States History and Society, War, Culture, and Society | Leave a comment

Considering Civil Wars

Posted on August 5, 2020 by briansandberg

Civil wars fracture political systems and rend societies, often leaving deep scars and traumatic memories that haunt generations. Yet civil wars often continue to be understood primarily through the lens of national historiographies that focus on nation-states and the history … Continue reading →

Posted in Civil Conflict, Early Modern Europe, Early Modern World, Empires and Imperialism, European History, History of the Western World, History of Violence, Political Culture, Revolts and Revolutions, State Development Theory, Strategy and International Politics, War and Society, War, Culture, and Society, Warfare in the Early Modern World | Leave a comment

Postdoctoral Fellowships on the European Fiscal-Military System

Posted on December 6, 2018 by briansandberg

The Faculty of History at the University of Oxford is seeking six Research Associates to join the team from September 2019, or as soon as possible thereafter, for an ambitious 5-year multi-national research project. ‘The European Fiscal-Military System 1530-1870’ is funded … Continue reading →

Posted in Archival Research, Early Modern Europe, Early Modern World, Empires and Imperialism, European History, Grants and Fellowships, History of Violence, Reformation History, Renaissance Art and History, State Development Theory, Strategy and International Politics, War and Society, War, Culture, and Society, Warfare in the Early Modern World | Leave a comment