Enlightened Reform in Southern Europe and Its Atlantic Colonies, C. 1750-1830

This volume broadens and reinvigorates the debate about the connections which link enlightenment thought and government reform in the eighteenth century. In order to complement, expand and rejuvenate the debate which has so far concentrated largely on Northern, Central and Eastern Europe, this volume brings together historians of Southern Europe and its ultramarine empires to reappraise a specific aspect of 'enlightened absolutism' and 'enlightened reform'. In so doing it engages...
More Description

This volume broadens and reinvigorates the debate about the connections which link enlightenment thought and government reform in the eighteenth century. In order to complement, expand and rejuvenate the debate which has so far concentrated largely on Northern, Central and Eastern Europe, this volume brings together historians of Southern Europe and its ultramarine empires to reappraise a specific aspect of 'enlightened absolutism' and 'enlightened reform'. In so doing it engages creatively with pressing issues in the current historical literature and suggests new directions for future research. No single historian, working alone, could write a history that did justice to complex issues involved in studying the intersection of enlightenment ideas and policy-making in Latin America, Brazil, France, Italy, Portugal and Spain. For this reason, this well-conceived, balanced volume, drawing on the expertise of a small, carefully-chosen cohort offers an exciting investigation of this pressing historical debate.