Endemic Violence, Civic Capital and the Fiscal-Military Revolution

Abstract

Did increased military competition among European states foster the development of the state and, ultimately, a specific path of economic and political development? The growth of the early modern state implied by the Military Revolution requires that 1) the population is capable of meeting the productive and military demands of the state, and 2) the state produces the consent of the population to taxation and/or military mobilization (civic capital). On the one hand, a high level of military skill among the population is necessary to wage war; on the other hand, an armed and trained population has stronger bargaining power and is less willing to submit to the taxation demanded by the central government. This project aims to establish the theoretical foundations for such a trade-off, and study its implications for the long-run state development process.