Accounting as a technology to disseminate the sense of unity in a nation state: The Kingdom of Italy

Abstract

This article investigates the nature of interrelationships among high political discourse, operational political discourse and accounting intended as a technology of government in the development of modern states. Specifically, the study demonstrates evidence of the capacity of accounting and other technologies in the field of financial management (i.e. distribution of powers and tasks, and control system) of nurturing and disseminating a governmental discourse in Italy during and immediately after its unification process. Records of parliamentary debates and the text of some laws (1853–1869), beside secondary sources, were analysed to get a twofold finding. While the investigation reveals the contribution of technologies in disseminating a sense of unity, it also sheds light on the existence of circular relationships among the elements of the usual governmentality scheme of analysis. In other words, technologies are typically driven by previous political rationalities/discourses, but they can be also used to further strengthen the same rationalities/discourses, especially when they are at an early stage of development.