The Outlines of the Colonial State. Tax and Budget Policy in the German Colonies 1884-1914

• Applicant: Privatdozent Dr. Marc Buggeln
• Subject Area: Modern and Contemporary History
• Term: since 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 510638190

In all colonies, the experience and impact of colonialism depended very much on how colonial states collected and spent public money. Taxation was one of the most contentious aspects of colonial rule. Concern for a balanced budget shaped German colonial policy at every level. In many colonies, the collection of taxes occupied a large part of the colonial administrative apparatus' time and strained relations with the colonised. The process, often accompanied by violence, threatened to undermine the fragile order of the colonial states. But taxes were not only a means to reduce metropolitan costs in the colonies. In Europe, taxes were a motor for centralising the state and forcing economic development. In a process that took place over centuries, the increase in taxes, originally necessary primarily for military build-up, led to a tax burden that made subsistence and self-production increasingly difficult. As a result, taxes drove part of the lower and lower-middle classes into dependent work in the manufactory system. The function of taxes as a violent means of accelerating economic transformation processes could be observed once again - in fast motion - in the colonies from the end of the 19th century onwards. The taxes levied there forced parts of the population to abandon subsistence production because money had to be raised to pay them. An increasing number of people found themselves forced to work on the plantations or mines of the colonial masters. Since the process of breaking up self-supporting structures was driven forward faster and more violently in the colonies than previously in Europe, there were very frequent tax refusals and revolts. The German colonial administration was only too aware of the corresponding dangers. For this reason, taxes were by no means adopted centrally for all colonies, but were tested in individual regions and only introduced in other districts if they were evaluated positively. In addition, it was often promised that the budgetary expenditures financed by the taxes would benefit the local population. The aim of the study is to examine this trial and error process in order to find out where resistance arose, how it was organised and how the colonial administration reacted to it. In this way, a contribution will be made to the analysis of the implementation of modern European subjectification techniques in the German colonies and the specificity of colonial governmentality will be investigated.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants