Abstract
Studies on the history of political science have often focused on the development of the scientific discipline in so-called “internal” terms as opposed to an analysis of the impact of “external” phenomena such as political constellations, institutional arrangements, or state transformations. Epistemological and methodological considerations have tended to be at the center of interest — leading to classifying schemes which, while not without value, are certainly incapable of providing any type of more comprehensive understanding of the development of political analysis. Often, the main question has been that of the “scientific” status of early political science, “scientificity” being understood as the adherence to the “method of the generalizing sciences”, i.e. to a procedure which is supposed to have been successfully applied in the natural sciences. The social sciences are, thus, regarded and assessed from a perspective of the progress of scientific knowledge according to a more or less positivistic conception (1).
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Notes
These considerations were critically suggested by the reconstruction of Italian political science in the nineteenth century (to which I am indebted) made in the introductory essay by G. Sola, in D. Fiorot and G. Sola, “Positivismo e politica tra’ 800 e’ 900. Terza parte. Bibliografia sulla scienza politica in Italia (1861–1900)”. In Schema 8 (1986), Appendice al n. 2, pp. 11–85.
P. Schiera, Il laboratorio borghese. Scienza e politica nella Germania dell’Ottocento, Bologna: il Mulino, 1987.
G. Gozzi, Modelli politici e questione sociale in Italia e Germania fra Otto e Novecento. Bologna: il Mulino, 1988.
A.G. Manca, “Prassi politica e questione organizzativa nel liberalismo politico prussiano negli anni della Nuova Era (1858–1862)”. In Annali dell’Istituto storico italo-germanico in Trento 14 (1988): 341–388. I. Cervelli, Liberalismo e conservatorismo in Prussia. 1850–1858. Bologna: il Mulino, 1983.
On Lorenz von Stein, see above all Staat und Gesellschaft. Studien über Lorenz von Stein. Herausgegeben und eingeleitet von Roman Schnur, mit einer Bibliographie von Max Munding. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 1978.
See the old but still-valid reconstructions by S. Landshut, Kritik der Soziologie. Freiheit und Gleichheit als Ursprungsproblem der Soziologie (1929), now in Kritik der Soziologie und andere Schriften zur Politik. Neuwied and Berlin: Luchterhand, 1969, and H. Freyer, Soziologie als Wirklichkeitswissenschaft. Logische Grundlegung des Systems der Soziologie. Leipzig and Berlin, 1930.
See above all T. Nipperday, Deutsche Geschichte 1800–1866. Bürgerwelt und starker Staat. Munchen: Beck, 1984.
At the same time the Gelehrtentum provided for mobility and mediation between the different classes of which it was composed. Here my analysis Il laboratorio borghese. Ch. III, deviates from the account given by F.K. Ringer, The Decline of German Mandarins. The German Academic Community 1890–1933. Cambridge (Mass.): Harvard University Press, 1969.
See I. Gorges, Sozialforschung in Deutschland 1872–1914. Gesellschaftliche Einflüsse auf Themen-und Methodenwahl des Vereins für Socialpolitik. Konigstein/Ts.: Hain, 1980; and in this volume the essay by Alain Desrosières.
The first step of the reform was the Kreisordnung for the eastern provinces dated December 13,1872. It was followed by the Provinzialordnung on June 29, 1875, by the Dotationsgesetz on July 8, 1875 and lastly by the Zuständigkeitsgesetz dated July 26, 1876. The reform was wound up with the law on allgemeine Landesverwaltung dated July 26, 1880, bringing about the correspondence of administration in all of its parts with the reform introduced in the meantime. Later, the administrative reform was extended to the new provinces and to the western ones, starting from Hannover in 1884 and going as far as Posen in 1889.
W. Wilhelm, Zur juristischen Methodenlehre in 19. Jahrhundert. Die Herkunft der Methode Paul Labands aus der Privatrechtswissenschaft. Frankfurt: Klostermann, 1958. M. Fioravanti, Giuristi e costituzione politica nell’ ottocento tedesco. Milano: Giuffré, 1979.
A major role in this direction was played by the introduction of new “social and State disciplines” into syllabi and exam programs: above all the new specializations of public and administrative law but also of Nationalökonomie and Finanzwissenschaft. Also this complex matter underwent a profound rationalization and reform that once again saw its cornerstone in Prussia, but affected all of Germany as well. Its first institutional moment was the law on juridic exams and on the preparation of higher juridic service, dated May 6, 1869. From that moment on, the attention placed on the capacity of higher civil servants grew and the problem expanded from administrative jurisdiction to the entire civil service. For the most general implications of this process see W. Bleek, Von der Kameralausbildung zum Juristenprivileg. Studium, Prüfung und Ausbildung der Höheren Beamten des allgemeinen Verwaltungsdienstes in Deutschland im 18. und 19. Jahrhundert. Berlin: Colloquium Verlag, 1972. On the theme of professionalization see Ch. E. McClelland, “Zur Professionalisierung der akademischen Berufe in Deutschland”. In W. Conze and J. Kocka (eds.). Bildungsbürgertum im 19. Jahrhundert; Teil I: Bildungssystem und Professionalisierung in internationalen Vergleichen. Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta, 1985, which is also the reference work on the general argument.
P. Schiera, Il laboratorio borghese, Ch. IV. Not only the fiscal reforms undertaken in Prussia by Miquel in 1891 and 1893 are relevant for this. It can be very useful to consider the system of social security (wherein next to the scholastic system, the effort of legislature and social politics was concentrated) as resulting from the more-or-less balanced crossing of two factors: a country’s economic power on the one hand, and the population’s politically affirmed social pretences on the other.
P. Flora, “Krisenbewaltigung oder Krisenerzeugung? Der Wohlfahrtsstaat in historischer Perspektive”. In W. J. Mommsen & W. Mock (eds.) Die Entstehung des Wohlfahrtsstaates in Großbritannien und Deutschland 1859–1950. Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta, 1982.
I. Cervelli, “Realismo politico e liberalismo moderato in Prussia negli anni dell decollo”. In Lill R. & N. Matteucci (eds.) Il liberalismo in Italia e in Germania dalla rivoluzione del’ 48 alia prima guerra mondiale. Bologna: il Mulino, 1980, pp. 77–290.
B. vom Brocke, “Hochschul-und Wissenschaftspolitik in Preussen und im Deutschen Kaiserreich 1882–1907: das System Althoff.” In P. Baumgart (ed.), Bildungspolitik in Preussen zur Zeit des Kaiserreichs. Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta, 1980. E. Shils (ed.), Max Weber. On Universities. The Power of the State and the Dignity of the Academic Calling in Imperial Germany. Translated, edited and with an introductory note by E. Shils. Chicago and London: 1973.
See the essays in P. Schiera & F. Tenbruck (eds.), Gustav Schmoller e il suo tempo: la nascita delle scienze sociali in Germania e in Italia — Gustav Schmoller in seiner Zeit: die Entstehung der Sozialwissenschaften in Deutschland und Italien. Bologna and Berlin: il Mulino and Duncker & Humblot, 1989.
U. Allegretti, Profilo di storia costituzionale italiana. Individualismo e assolutismo nello stato liberale. Bologna: il Mulino, 1989. See also A. Berselli, La Destra storica dopo l’Unità, II: Italia legale e Italia reale. Bologna: il Mulino, 1965.
The best presentation of the problem is, by far, still that offered by F. Chabod, Storia della politica estera italiana dal 1870 al 1896. Bari: Laterza, 1962, Ch. II.
R. Romeo, Risorgimento e capitalismo. Bari: Laterza, 1959. G. Are, Il problema dello sviluppo industriale nell’età della Destra. Pisa: Nistri-Lischi, 1965, and Alle origini dell’ Italia industriale. Bologna: il Mulino, 1974. A. Cardini, Stato liberate e protezionismo in Italia (1890–1900). Bologna: il Mulino, 1981. On the Italian economic thought of the period see: R. Faucci, “La cultura economica dopo l’Unite”. In M. Finoia (ed.) Il pensiero economico italiano. Bologna: il Mulino, 1980, and La Scienza economica in Italia (1850–1943): da Francesco Ferrara a Luigi Einaudi, 1981; P. Barucci (ed.), Le cattedre di economia in Italia. Firenze, 1988. See also the essay by G. Gioli in this volume.
For the reconstruction of Italian political science at the end of the nineteenth century I have followed G. Sola, “La scienza politica italiana” (note 1). The three quotations are respectively by Saverio Scolari, Biagio Brugi, and Emilio Morpurgo.
G. Sola, “La scienza politica italiana”, pp. 31, 45, 57.
The best book on the argument is still that by A. Caracciolo, Stato e società civile in Italia. Problemi dell’ unificazione italiana. Torino: Einaudi, 1968.
See, G. Sola, “La scienza politica italiana”, p. 23.
G. Sola, “La scienza politica italiana”, pp. 38, 42.
For a discussion on the possibility of a “definitive” formalization of such sciences in the period, see the essay by P. Wagner in this volume.
P. Schiera, “Amministrazione e costituzione: verso la nascita della scienza politica”. In Il pensiero politico, 15 (1982), pp. 74–91.
I. Porciani, “Attilio Brunialti e la ‘Biblioteca di Scienze politiche’. Per una ricerca su intellettuali e Stato dal trasformismo all’età giolittiana”. In A. Mazzacane (ed.), I giuristi e la crisi dello Stato liberale in Italia fra Otto e Novecento. Napoli: Liguori, 1986, pp. 191–229.
G. Gozzi, “Ideologia liberale e politica sociale: il socialismo della cattedra in Italia”. In P. Schiera & F. Tenbruck, Gustav Schmoller e il suo tempo, pp. 181–216. See also Gabriella Gioli in this volume.
L. Mangoni, Una crisi fine secolo. La cultura italiana e la Francia fra Otto e Novecento. Torino: Einaudi, 1985.
F. Lampertico, Economia dei Popoli e degli Stati, Milano, 1874, as quoted by G. Gozzi, “Ideologia liberale e politica sociale”, p. 202, in reference to Adam Schaffle and Adolph Wagner.
On this point see above all the already-quoted reading by A. Mazzacane (ed.), I giuristi e la crisi dello Stato liberale in Italia. See also F. Tessitore, Crisi e trasformazioni dello Stato. Richerche sul pensiero giuspubblicistico italiano tra Otto e Novecento. Milano: Giuffré, 1963, and G. Cianferotti, Il pensiero di V. E. Orlando e la giuspubblicistica italiana fra Ottocento e Novecento. Milano: Giuffré 1980.
C. Vano, “Riflessione giuridica e relazioni industriali: alle origini del contratto collettivo di lavoro”, and M. Fioravanti, “Stato di diritto e Stato amministrativo nell’ opera giuridica di Santi Romano”, both in A. Mazzacane (ed.), I giuristi e la crisi dello Stato liberale. On juridic socialism see P. Grossi, ‘Un altro modo di possedere’. L’emersione di forme alternative di proprietà alia coscienza giuridica postunitaria. Milano: Giuffré, 1977.
R. Gherardi, “L’ltalia dei compromessi. Politica e scienza nell’età della Sinistra”. In P. Schiera & F. Tenbruck (ed.), Gustav Schmoller e il suo tempo, p. 217, who quotes the already-cited Allegretti and R. Ruffilli, “Lo Stato liberale in Italia”. In R. Lill & N. Matteucci (eds.), Il liberalismo in Italia e in Germania, pp. 217–219.
R. Gherardi, “L’ltalia dei compromessi”, p. 226.
This is the main thesis of P. Schiera, Il laboratorio borghese, in partial opposition to F.K. Ringer, The Decline of German Mandarins. See also the review of the German translation of the latter by B. vom Brocke. “‘Die Gelehrten’. Auf dem Weg zu einer vergleichenden Sozialgeschichte europäischer Bildungssysteme und Bildungseliten im Industriezeitalter”. In Annali dell’Istituto storico italo-germanico in Trento, 10 (1984), pp. 389–401.
R. Gherardi, “L’ltalia dei compromessi”, p. 247.
I. Porciani, “Attilio Brunialti”, p. 199, who quotes R. Ruffilli, “Lo Stato liberale in Italia”, p. 485.
I. Porciani, “Attilio Brunialti”, who quotes Giuseppe Ricca Salerno. On the problem of social reform in Italy see V. Sellin, Die Anfänge staatlicher Sozialreform im Liberalen Italien. Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta, 1971.
O. Brunner, “Das Zeitalter der Ideologien”. In Neue Wege der Verfassungs-und Sozialgeschichte. Zweite vermehrte Auflage. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1968, and in this volume the essay by J. Heilbron on the French situation.
The best work on the subject is, notwithstanding my critical position to it, Ch. E. McClelland, State, Society and University in Germany, 1770–1914. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1980.
See, for a particular case, G. Cianferotti, “Germanesimo e università in Italia alla fine der’ 800. II caso di Cemerino”. In Studi senesi, 100 (1988), pp. 328ff.
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Schiera, P. (1990). “Science and Politics” as a Political Factor: German and Italian Social Sciences in the Nineteenth Century. In: Wagner, P., Wittrock, B., Whitley, R. (eds) Discourses on Society. Sociology of the Sciences Yearbook, vol 15. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-585-29174-1_5
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