<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>In contrast to the image of the Netherlands as a solid state since the early modern period, this article argues that Dutch statehood was the product of a hard-won process that required a good part of the 19th century to reach any sort of administrative consolidation. We look at state building from a decentered perspective, not so much from above or below, but rather from the middle, concentrating on the province of South Holland, and from within, foregrounding the piecemeal fine-tuning of the administrative system at the provincial level. We show that every administrative intervention had a spatial element or – to put it differently – created its own spatiality. The province, in that sense, was not a fixed territorial entity, but an amalgamation of spatial properties, depending on the administrative issue at stake.</p></abstract>

In contrast to the image of the Netherlands as a solid state since the early modern period, this article argues that Dutch statehood was the product of a hard-won process that required a good part of the 19th century to reach any sort of administrative consolidation. We look at state building from a decentered perspective, not so much from above or below, but rather from the middle, concentrating on the province of South Holland, and from within, foregrounding the piecemeal fine-tuning of the administrative system at the provincial level. We show that every administrative intervention had a spatial element or – to put it differently – created its own spatiality. The province, in that sense, was not a fixed territorial entity, but an amalgamation of spatial properties, depending on the administrative issue at stake.

Provincializing the Dutch State: South Holland in the 19th Century

Administory

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Public License.

{"article-title":"Provincializing the Dutch State: South Holland in the 19th Century"}

In contrast to the image of the Netherlands as a solid state since the early modern period, this article argues that Dutch statehood was the product of a...

Provincializing the Dutch State: South Holland in the 19th Century

Published Online: Aug 08, 2018

Page range: 166 - 184

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/ADHI-2018-0020

© 2017 Stefan Couperus, Harm Kaal, Nico Randeraad, Paul van Trigt. Published by Sciendo.

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Public License.

Figure 1