Impersonal Power

Heide Gerstenberger, Prof. Dr., has taught 'Theory of state and society' at the University of Bremen from 1974 to 2005. She has published extensively on state theory, social analysis as well as on the history and the present conditions of seafaring.

• Preface to the English EditionPart One - The Rise of Bourgeois States: Preconditions for an Explanation1. Miracles, for example2. States in general, ‘bourgeois’ states in particular3. Examples of evolutionary approaches 4. False conclusions from structural analysis5. Pitfalls in historical comparison6. Advice on readingPart Two - From Ancien Régime to Bourgeois State: England‘How then did they do it?’Chapter 1. English Feudalism: Appropriation by Land Lordship and Force of Arms under Feudally Generalised Royal Power1.a. Preconditions of feudal rule1.b. Establishment of feudal power structures Chapter 2. The Ancien Régime in England2.a. Establishment of the ancien régime2.b. Contradictory development of the ancien régime2.c. The partial revolutionising of the ancien régimeChapter 3. The Estate Constitution of Public Power3.a. Dissolution of the personal power of the English monarchs3.b. Objectification of local generalised power3.c. The ‘Establishment’: transformation of church ruleChapter 4. The Revolutionising of the Forms of Rule of the Ancien Régime into Bourgeois State Power4.a. Opening up of centralised power of office4.b. Separation of local power of office from the privileges of the landed nobility 4.c. Dissolution of the ancien régime of appropriation4.d. From the ‘political nation’ to a national political public4.e. ‘Pomp and circumstance’: the English form of bourgeois state power Part Three - From Ancien Régime to Bourgeois Society: FranceChapter 1. The Development of ‘Feudal’ Power Relations1. a. The rule of the aristocracy1.b. Hierarchy and immunityChapter 2. Plague, War and DifferenceChapter 3. The French Ancien Régime3.a. Emergence of the ancien régime 3.b. Contradictory development of the ancien régimeChapter 4. The French Revolution as Event and Structural Change4.a. The rise of a revolutionary public4.b. The struggle for a new order4.c. The revolutionising of ancien-régime forms of rule into bourgeois state power4.d. Emperor, king and notables: the French constitution of the bourgeois statePart Four - Results of the Historical Comparison1. The conditions of personal rule in England and France2. Conditions for the emergence of the ancien régime3. Contradictory development of the ancien régime4. From ancien regime to bourgeois state power: reasons for the ‘special roads’Part Five - The Organisation of Generalised Power: a Conceptual Framework for Historical Epochs1. Feudalism2. Ancien régime3. Bourgeois stateAnnotated BibliographyIndex