Preface

After a period of marginalization by socio-economic and cultural priorities in the second half of the twentieth century, political history, once the undisputed flagship of the study of the past, is experiencing a sustained renaissance. Originally restricted to diplomatic relations, power struggles and the deeds of social elites, the field's definition has expanded to the negotiation and enforcement of all binding rules within the institutional framework of any territorial unit. The early modern period, to sketch some of their preliminary conclusions, featured a dynamic political system distinct from both the feudal and personalized bonds of the Middle Ages and the dominance of parties, opinion polls and electronic media of modern times. International relations involved agents and cultural transfers well beyond diplomatic channels. Major wars and peace congresses like that of Westphalia in 1648 produced a European state system based on the balance of power, while constant rivalry between its leading players fostered processes of centralization, bureaucratization and fiscalization.