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- Title
Das Staatswesen als kollektives Gut: Gemeinbesitz als Grundlage der politischen Kultur in der frühneuzeitlichen Eidgenossenschaft.
- Authors
Schläppi, Daniel
- Abstract
Common property and collective resources constituted a defining aspect of the political culture of the old Swiss Confederation ("Eidgenossenschaft"). Numerous unrests were concerned with the access to these collective resources and the utilization of corporatistic property. Gains from collective goods were distributed among fully entitled citizens and country people by means of multifaceted forms of vertical resource transfers. The cultivation of common property strengthened the federation of the 13 territories which formed the old 'Eidgenossenschaft'. The communities paid the costs of public responsibilities themselves and the corporatistic properties of the societies led to a specific type of state genesis. Furthermore, the governance of common property had a cohesive effect on communities and states. The concept of "common-pool resources" developed by Elinor Ostrom properly explains these appearances, because it adequately portrays the character of political and social exchanges within the 'Eidgenossenschaft'. In this context, the article shows that the principle of reciprocity is of great importance. Especially, the concept of „reciprocal altruism« has to be included into the analysis as the prominent mode of social interaction.
- Subjects
FEDERATIONS; POLITICAL culture; SOCIAL exchange; SOCIAL interaction; OSTROM, Elinor, 1933-2012
- Publication
Historical Social Research, 2007, Vol 32, Issue 4, p169
- ISSN
0172-6404
- Publication type
Article