What Counts as a State? Historical State Formation and Fragmentation in Europe

• In Event: New Perspectives on the Origins of State Building

Abstract

We take stock of historical state development in Europe, and the burgeoning new literature on state formation and state fragmentation in medieval and early modern Europe. Using a large database of state boundaries over time and the military conflict, religious emulation, and autonomous institutions associated with them, we answer three questions: First, how do we define Europe? To what extent are the findings of the literature robust to more inclusive definitions of Europe, and what are the tradeoffs in using the different boundaries of Europe? Second, what counts as a state? Should we count city-states, duchies, republics, and the constituent units within the Holy Roman Empire, the Habsburg Empire, and the Russian Empire as equivalent to nascent national states such as France, England, or Spain? Third, in examining the historical fragmentation of territorial authority, what are the tradeoffs and distinctions we find in using different measures (counting borders, logs of state size, Herfindahl index)? In short, we will examine whether the different conceptualizations of Europe, states, and fragmentation have an impact on how we conceive of state formation.

Authors

• Scott Abramson, University of Rochester

• Anna M. Grzymala-Busse, Stanford University

• Casey Petroff, University of Rochester