Δημόσια οικονομικά και συγκρότηση εθνικού κράτους το 1821
Date Issued
September 26, 2018
Type
Διδακτορική Διατριβή
Abstract
The present PhD thesis discusses the “Greek Revolution economy”, specifically the public finances in relation to the national state, especially concerning state-building and functioning during the Greek Revolution. This thesis also emphasises the fiscal institutions, practices and functions in the public economic sphere and seeks processes of national-state building at the same period in Greece.
The documentation mainly relies on fiscal data derived from unpublished sources, especially in extensive quantitative data from statements of accounts, directories and accounting books covering the period 1822 - 1832. The data found in archive collections from the Greek State Archives are used along with the basic Greek Revolution bibliography and other methodologically useful studies.
This study is developed in two parts. In the first part, we focus on the economic space that the Greek Revolution delimits, during its preparation by “Philiki Etaireia”, as well during its beginning in 1821. Next, we focus on the institutions, administration, mechanisms and practices of the public economic sphere from 1822 to 1832 and from varied points of view (context, actual functioning, staffing, organizational and administrative procedures). Then we focus on the implementation of modern fiscal management practices (budget, accounting system general balance sheet) and in the analysis of successive general accounts which reveal the extent of the public economic function and its space. Additionally, based on the content of these accounts, we study processes related to the state building.
In the second part, we highlight the size and the importance of the main public incomes (tax revenues, looting, divestiture of national estates, fundraising, foreign aid, external loans). Based on the above, on the one hand, we enrich specific aspects of the public economic sphere and its mechanisms; on the other hand, we focus on conflicts and strategies regarding the control of economic resources and the power in relation to the political center formation of a national scope.
It follows from the above that the public economic sphere at the time of the Greek Revolution was connected with governance, mainly through modern practices, fiscal and administrative institutions with remarkable function; that the size and density of the relations in this sphere gradually widened, however with short-term recessions; that there were public revenues directly or indirectly controlled and legalized by the official authorities which was strengthening economic functions. On the basis of all these, in this study it is supported that the formation and function modern state institutions during the Greek Revolution started from the beginning of the revolution and this process then intensified during the years of the Capodistrian government. That is, the conclusions of the present PhD thesis allow us to critically review the main historiographical interpretations from the time of A. Andreadis, which consider that such functions and practices and the state-building process in Greece are actually beginning by I. Capodistrias governance.
Subjects