The Origins of the Interventionist State in France, 1830-1870

TY - JOUR

T1 - The Origins of the Interventionist State in France, 1830-1870

AU - Greenfield, Jerome

PY - 2020/6/17

Y1 - 2020/6/17

N2 - The historiography of the French state’s economic interventionism has focused primarily on the Ancien Régime and the period from the 1850s into the twentieth century. This article argues that, though often overlooked, the French state embarked on a major expansion in the 1830s and 1840s, as government spending on public works grew sharply. Most notably, the government contributed to the financing of railways and urban improvements. Following the 1848 revolution, rising pressure for fiscal rectitude forced a reconfiguration of the interventionist Orleanist state. While the new Bonapartist regime remained committed to public works, it relied more heavily on private finance than its predecessor, benefiting from the ‘great boom’ of the 1850s. Still, private enterprise remained inadequate to sustain public works without the support of public money, particularly once economic expansion began to slow in the 1860s. As a result, government spending on public works continued to rise under the Bonapartists. In this respect, they sustained the conception of an interventionist state developed by the Orleanists.

AB - The historiography of the French state’s economic interventionism has focused primarily on the Ancien Régime and the period from the 1850s into the twentieth century. This article argues that, though often overlooked, the French state embarked on a major expansion in the 1830s and 1840s, as government spending on public works grew sharply. Most notably, the government contributed to the financing of railways and urban improvements. Following the 1848 revolution, rising pressure for fiscal rectitude forced a reconfiguration of the interventionist Orleanist state. While the new Bonapartist regime remained committed to public works, it relied more heavily on private finance than its predecessor, benefiting from the ‘great boom’ of the 1850s. Still, private enterprise remained inadequate to sustain public works without the support of public money, particularly once economic expansion began to slow in the 1860s. As a result, government spending on public works continued to rise under the Bonapartists. In this respect, they sustained the conception of an interventionist state developed by the Orleanists.

U2 - 10.1093/ehr/ceaa130

DO - 10.1093/ehr/ceaa130

M3 - Article

SN - 0013-8266

VL - 135

SP - 386

EP - 416

JO - The English Historical Review

JF - The English Historical Review

IS - 573

ER -