FORMATION OF EARLY ABSOLUTISM AND ITS INFLUENCE ON THE STATE DEVELOPMENT OF AUSTRIA IN XVIII CENT

Abstract

The article deals with the historical and legal aspects of the formation of early absolutism and its influence on the development of Austria in the eighteenth century. It is specified, that in XVI–XVII centuries in Europe a process of transformation of the medieval state of monarchy into absolute monarchy took place. Political absolutism was a control system, in which the whole state power (legislative, executive, judicial), and partly even a spiritual (religious), was concentrated in the hands of the monarch. The regime of absolute monarchy possessed control over all spheres of public life (the monarch independently set taxes and was in charge of public finance, determined the direction of foreign policy. The Church, the regional elites (aristocracy) and the bureaucracy, which is actively growing, were the factors that to a certain extent limited the power of the monarch. It is argued that absolutism in Habsburg monarchy was formed in the mid-seventeenth century as emergency of state management. Austrian absolutism, considering the geographical location of the state, was formed as a combination of Western influences and Eastern traditions. It is shown that the element of early Austrian absolutism was the so-called «discipline of society». In the last third of the twentieth century in the scientific discourse the concept of the German researcher Gerhard Oistrakh of «social discipline» became widespread. Periodic dissatisfaction of the Czech State and Hungary were characteristic features of the development of the Austrian Empire. Under these circumstances there was an objective need both in the disciplinary intervention of the state in various spheres of human activity, and in the conscious and disciplined behavior of individuals. Consequently, the disciplined behavior of an official and officer, peasant and artisan, became a creative force that allowed not only systematically to organize the life of society, but as well to reform it creatively. These internal changes later formed the basis for educational reform within the framework of enlightened absolutism. The article deals with the historical and legal aspects of the formation of early absolutism and its influence on the development of Austria in the eighteenth century. It is specified, that in XVI–XVII centuries in Europe a process of transformation of the medieval state of monarchy into absolute monarchy took place. Political absolutism was a control system, in which the whole state power (legislative, executive, judicial), and partly even a spiritual (religious), was concentrated in the hands of the monarch. The regime of absolute monarchy possessed control over all spheres of public life (the monarch independently set taxes and was in charge of public finance, determined the direction of foreign policy. The Church, the regional elites (aristocracy) and the bureaucracy, which is actively growing, were the factors that to a certain extent limited the power of the monarch. It is argued that absolutism in Habsburg monarchy was formed in the mid-seventeenth century as emergency of state management. Austrian absolutism, considering the geographical location of the state, was formed as a combination of Western influences and Eastern traditions. It is shown that the element of early Austrian absolutism was the so-called «discipline of society». In the last third of the twentieth century in the scientific discourse the concept of the German researcher Gerhard Oistrakh of «social discipline» became widespread. Periodic dissatisfaction of the Czech State and Hungary were characteristic features of the development of the Austrian Empire. Under these circumstances there was an objective need both in the disciplinary intervention of the state in various spheres of human activity, and in the conscious and disciplined behavior of individuals. Consequently, the disciplined behavior of an official and officer, peasant and artisan, became a creative force that allowed not only systematically to organize the life of society, but as well to reform it creatively. These internal changes later formed the basis for educational reform within the framework of enlightened absolutism. It is substantiated that absolutism played a double role in the history of Austria: firstly, it served as the mechanism within which the reform of the state system took place; and secondly, it was a way to ethnic and political unification of the country. The absolute monarchy state in Europe reached the maximum degree of centralization, but in the case of Austria, it had its own peculiarities. The multinationality and heterogeneity of its provinces were the hindrance to complete centralization and unification of the local government. Therefore, such a concentration of power, as took place in Prussia, was not observed in Austria. And only the weakening of the Czech State after the Thirty Years War and Hungary after the suppression of the uprising F. Rakoczi contributed to the rise of the Austrian State.