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SFB 1167:  Macht and Herrschaft – Premodern Configurations in a Transcultural Perspective

Subject Area Humanities
Thermal Engineering/Process Engineering
Term from 2016 to 2021
Project identifier Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 257731206
 
Final Report Year 2021

Final Report Abstract

The CRC 1167 at University of Bonn, funded by the German Research Foundation since July 2016, made a crucial contribution to a better understanding of the many different manifestations of pre-modern power and rule in Asia, Europe and northern Africa. The first phase of the project focused on supreme rulers who were able to assert their position in different configurations transregionally. From the second funding phase onwards, we planned to increase the degree of differentiation in order to achieve a comprehensive phenomenology of pre-modern power and rule. Therefore the focus should be on the groups of ‚elites‘ taking into account both forms of participation in power and rule and self-organization in town and country, or more generally ‚non-monarchical‘ systems, and the rise of new powers. The results of the first funding phase on the various manifestations of monarchical rule and the results of the second funding phase on the forms of participation of elites were to form the basis for theory building in the third funding phase. Pre-modern power and rule were thus to be re-described on a transcultural basis, thus also making a fundamental contribution to the theory of power and rule. The first funding phase of CRC 1167 thus focused on the relationship between supreme rulers and elites. By focusing on the mostly male ruler and his position in pre-modern societies, it has become clear, most importantly, that rule must always be seen as a consequence of the interaction of individuals and groups of individuals. Furthermore, the group of the elite is to be distinguished on a structural level from the rulers. In addition, different spaces of action are to be assumed. Not only are they played by different actors, within spaces of rule, they also display complicated communication networks with large and many (graded) smaller nodes. Based on these, in turn, the limits of control by central rulers can be tapped. One result of the investigation of these spaces of action, for instance, is that it uncovers different free spaces of spontaneous but also formalized critique of domination, depending on the context given. Furtheron, very different (subtle) methods of critique as well as multi-layered intermediate forms and transitions of conflict and consensus can be described and transculturally compared. Overall, the CRC 1167 was able to demonstrate that the formation of stable systems with institutional structures such as administration and delegation of rule, which have so far been ascribed more to modern state structures, can already be identified in the pre-modern era. Thus, the distinction between pre-modernity and modernity as distinct periods is not only relativized, but emphasized in their resemblance.

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