These essays focus on the growth of representative institutions and the mechanics of European state finance from the end of the Middle Ages to the French Revolution.

Making a strong case for the use of economic analysis in studying history and culture, Philip Hoffman shatters the widespread myth that traditional agricultural societies in early modern Europe were socially and economically stagnant - and ultimately depended on wide-scale political revolution for their growth. Through a richly detailed historical investigation of the peasant agriculture of ancien-regime France, the author uncovers evidence that requires a new understanding of what constituted economic growth in such societies. His arguments rest on a measurement of long-term growth that enables him to analyze the economic, institutional, and political factors that explain its forms and rhythms. In comparing France with England and Germany, Hoffman arrives at fresh answers to some classic questions: Did French agriculture lag behind farming in other countries? If so, did the obstacles in French agriculture lurk within peasant society itself, in the peasants' culture, in their communal property rights, or in the small scale of their farms? Or did the obstacles hide elsewhere, in politics, in the tax system, or in meager opportunities for trade? The author discovers that growth cannot be explained by culture, property rights, or farm size, and argues that the real causes of growth derived from politics and gains from trade. By challenging other widely held beliefs, such as the nature of the commons and the workings of the rural economy, Hoffman offers a new analysis of peasant society and culture, one based on microeconomics and game theory and intended for a wide range of social scientists.

Conflict appears in many forms, from a dictator terrorizing his country to organized crime demanding protection money. Questions and issues addressed in this text include: the conditions which make conflict severe; whether voluntary agreements can avoid future conflict; how the outcome of one war will affect the incentives of countries to wage war in the future; and how dictators hold power. The book provides an overview of existing literature, applies the theory of conflict to new situations, and gives foundations for future work. It should interest both researchers and students studying political economy, public choice, international relations, and comparative politics.

Joseph Schumpeter (1883 - 1950) was one of the foremost economic thinkers of the twentieth century. Today Schumpeter is most well-known for his idea of 'creative destruction'. This is the notion that a market economy is simultaneously creative and destructive and therein lies the process of renewal that is central to the endurance and also the unpopularity of capitalism. Schumpeter's work also contains one of the most important conservative critiques of mass democracy. Schumpeter argued that mass democracy had totalitarian tendencies and was likely to degenerate into the tyranny of the popular.

This edited collection addresses some of the most important challenges in contemporary human rights law and practice. Its central theme is the linkage between public finance, particularly budget decisions, and the realisation (or not) of economic and social rights. While much academic and political debate on economic and social rights implementation has focused on the role of the courts, this work places the spotlight squarely on those organs of government that have the primary responsibility and the greatest capacity for giving effect to such rights: namely, the elected branches of government. The major actors considered in this book are politicians, public servants and civil society, with their role in realising economic and social rights the work's key focus. The book thus makes a crucial contribution to remedying the current imbalance in attention paid by economic and social rights scholars to the legislature and executive vis-a-vis the judiciary. Featuring pioneering work by leading experts in the field of human rights and public finance, this multidisciplinary collection will be of great interest to academics, practitioners, public servants and students working in the areas of law, human rights, economics, development and political science.

This book brings together, for the first time, the classic articles that began and have shaped the debate about the Military Revolution in early modern Europe, adding important new essays by eminent historians of early modern Europe to further this important scholarly interchange.

This book provides a new answer to the old question of the 'rise of the west': why did some countries embark on a path of sustained economic growth while others stagnated? Taking a global view, Ringmar investigates the implications of his conclusions on issues facing the developing world today.