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Administrative history

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Administrative history is a historiographic field which looks at the history of state administrations and bureaucracies. Originally considered a sub-field of Administrative Sciences that was intended to improve contemporary governance, administrative history has become an increasingly separate field.[1] Administrative historians study the changes in administrative ideologies and administrative law while also looking at civil servants and the relationship between government and society.[2] It is related to political and constitutional history. The discipline is most common in France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Italy.[3] In 1965, when fields like social history were becoming ever more popular, G. R. Elton (then a fellow of Clare College, Cambridge) defended administrative history as the only field which can explain how the machinery of government actually worked in the past.[4]

Journals

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Academic journals which specialise in administrative history include:

  • Jahrbuch für europäische Verwaltungsgeschichte (JEV)[1]

The New Administrative History

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Historians researching the medieval and early modern periods have begun to reexplore the possibilities of administrative history. This movement has been described as the "New Administrative History".[5] It embraces a broad range of approaches, including interdisciplinary and theoretical work – as exemplified by John Sabapathy – and also more traditional institutional approaches, revisiting the methods of influential administrative historians such as T. F. Tout and G. R. Elton.[6]

See also

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References

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Bibliography

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  • Raadschelders, J.C.N. (1994). "Administrative History: Contents, Meaning and Usefulness". International Review of Administrative Sciences. 60: 117–29. doi:10.1177/002085239406000107. S2CID 144037125.
  • Raadschelders, J.C.N. (1998). Handbook of Administrative History. London: Transaction Publishers. ISBN 978-1-56000-315-1.
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