How to Run a Multilingual Society: Statehood, Administration and Regional Dynamics in Austria-Hungary, 1867–1914

Abstract

The aim of this chapter is threefold. First, it will shed some light on the constitutional framework and the status of the various administrative units which made up the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. Second, it will take a closer look at the policies of the Austrian state in relation to language and other nationalising tendencies in the various regions. Although region-building activities were based on deep-rooted local identities and comparatively autonomous political institutions, it is hard to speak of ‘regionalisms’ confronting the Austrian state. Instead, it seems to be more appropriate to focus on the different settings and political dynamics for each part of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. Accordingly, the third aim of this chapter is to show how regionalist reasoning, representation or political strategies functioned within the very specific constitutional and political setting and what factors played a role when a shift in the relation between state, empire, nation and region took place.