Politics, policies and communication of interest at an early stage of modernization. Reports of the District President of Potsdam 1867-1914

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The project researches the communication of political interests. It uses a multi methodological design: conten analysis combined with textual (historical) criticism. Its theoretical frame is linked to a rational choice model: the calculus of consent concept of Buchanan and Tullock. The policies of modernization in Prussia and Germany, especially environmental politics and infrastructure politics, are subject of the research project.Reports of the District Presidents, reports of civil authorities ranked above and below the Presidents, and news correspondencies of the civil authorities serve as the main historical sources of the research project.The Potsdam district provides us with some advantages: its centrality, the political, social and economic importance, the dynamics of social change, the diversity of political communication.The reports of the District Presidents exemplify networks of political interests, provide the researchers with feedback loops of intervening factors, and indicate at terms and modes of political log-rolling.The project shall be published in two parts: history and interpretation of the political communication (Part 1), edition of selected sources and reports.