Monarchy and corruption debates in the long 19th century (ca. 1780-1830 and 1890-1930)

研究项目的主题是长达19世纪的腐败辩论对君主制的意义。在此期间，君主制经常被描绘成腐败的原因或问题的廉洁解决方案。特别是，该项目将考察腐败辩论和丑闻对君主制合法性的重要性，以及它们以何种方式促进了君主制自我形象的现代化。有了这个项目，关于腐败的历史研究将首次与君主制的历史联系起来。近年来，这两个研究分支在方法论上都有了显著的发展，这使得视角的结合非常富有成效。在这个时代，关于腐败的辩论也总是关于现代化的前卫之争。此外，它们还反映了人们对国家认识的变化、社会规范体系和道德观念的变化。迄今为止的文献表明，最初的假设是，与腐败有关的对君主制的批评在1800年左右占主导地位，而与腐败有关的君主制合法化策略在1900年左右更为成功。然而，必须对这一假设进行严格的审查，因为在每一种情况下也有偏离这一假设的发现。特别注意支持/批评君主制体制与君主个人行为以及性别历史层面之间的关系。研究了德国(普鲁士和巴伐利亚)、法国和英国君主制的批评者、支持者和代表的公开辩论。这也包括第三法兰西共和国和魏玛共和国的君主制运动。实证工作主要集中在两个时期。第一个子项目关注1800年左右(约1780-1830)几十年的革命和改革阶段，第二个子项目着眼于20世纪初(约1890-1930)。至少有一篇与项目负责人联合撰写的文章总结了部分成果。

The subject of the research project is the significance of corruption debates for the monarchy in the long 19th century. During this period, the monarchy was often portrayed either as the cause of corruption or as an uncorruptible solution to the problem. In particular, the project will examine the significance of corruption debates and scandals for the legitimacy of the monarchy and in what way they contributed to the modernisation of its self-image. With this project, historical research on corruption and the history of the monarchy will be linked for the first time. Both branches of research have undergone significant methodological development in recent years, which makes the combination of perspectives very fruitful. In this era, debates on corruption were always also debates on modernisation avant la lettre. Moreover, they reflected the changing understanding of the state, changing social norm systems and moral concepts. The literature to date suggests the initial hypothesis that corruption-related criticism of monarchy dominated around 1800, while corruption-related legitimation strategies of monarchy were more successful around 1900. However, this assumption must be critically examined, as there are also findings that deviate from this in each case. Special attention is paid to the relationship between support/criticism of the institution of monarchy in relation to the individual behaviour of monarchs as well as to the gender-historical dimension. Public debates with contributions from critics, supporters and representatives of the monarchy in Germany (Prussia and Bavaria), France and Great Britain are examined. This also includes monarchist movements in the Third French and Weimar Republics. The empirical work concentrates on two periods. The first sub-project focuses on the phase of revolutions and reforms in the decades around 1800 (ca. 1780-1830), the second takes a look at the early 20th century (ca. 1890-1930). At least one joint article with the project leader summarises the partial results.