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E-book Commerce, Finance and Statecraft : Histories of England 1600–1780

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Penilaian

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This book explores the accounts of commerce and finance developed by seventeenth- and eighteenth-century historians of England. Writers of the period, I argue, were engaged in a series of long-running and politically charged debates concerning a range of economic issues: the impact of popular and arbitrary forms of government on trade; the political and economic consequences of taxation; the develop-ment and value of England’s trading companies and commercial empire; the relationship between war and commerce; and, more generally, the meaning of national prosperity and its significance for England’s security, greatness and happiness. In discussing such questions, historians sought to present kings and queens as managers of the nation’s monetary and trading interests, and economic issues themselves as aspects of statecraft. As a consequence, commerce and finance came to be considered alongside political and military affairs as matters in which monarchs could demonstrate their skill, virtue and even heroism. This historiographical approach, which I label ‘the economic statecraft tradition’, shaped the ways in which seventeenth- and eighteenth-century society conceived of politics, wealth and the meaning and function of the past, and helped to generate an impor-tant, but largely unexplored, variety of economic history.Three characteristics of this mode of writing should be empha-sised. First, its conceptions of commerce and finance were, in a sense, political. Writers did not view the economy as an autonomous or semi-autonomous system shaped by the forces of supply and demand. Instead, commercial and financial material was presented as a series of actions performed by government – primarily the instigation of laws, commercial regulations and taxes – which either helped or hindered England’s interests. Economic statecraft’s key concern, therefore, was with what can best be described as the history of economic policy. Second, and largely as a consequence of this, none of the writers who discussed economic statecraft conceived of it as an independent field of study. Rather, the achievements of particular statesmen in commerce and finance were shown to be connected to their political, religious and military roles. This meant that economic statecraft formed part of a wider study of statesmanship, and under-standing it involves tracing its shifting relationship with other aspects of this subject.

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Ketersediaan

Informasi Detail

Judul Seri

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No. Panggil

942 DEW c

Penerbit

London : Manchester University Press., 2020

Deskripsi Fisik

289 hlm

Bahasa

English

ISBN/ISSN

9781526151605

Klasifikasi

942

Tipe Isi

text

Tipe Media

computer

Tipe Pembawa

online resource

Edisi

-

Subjek

History of England and Wales

Info Detail Spesifik

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Pernyataan Tanggungjawab

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Versi lain/terkait

Lampiran Berkas

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