Trotsky or Wallerstein?: Approaching the Habsburg Monarchy in the Nineteenth Century

In: East central Europe: L' Europe du centre-est : eine wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift, Volume 45, Issue 1, p. 39-62

Abstract

This article examines the potentials of world-systems analysis (WSA) and uneven and combined development (UCD) for the history of nineteenth-century Habsburg Monarchy by critically engaging with Andrea Komlosy's account of the Monarchy, written from the perspective ofWSA. It argues that Komlosy does not provide a consistentWSAinterpretation of the Monarchy's history by trying to analyze the Monarchy as a world-economy in its own right, thus excluding geopolitical dynamics and the world-economy. Furthermore, core-periphery relations within the Monarchy are dealt with in a contradictory fashion. Crucially, the quite anomalous state formation is not accounted for. The problematic account of state formation, it is argued, is due to the limitations ofWSA. By taking a closer look at the genesis of the Austro–Hungarian Compromise, the article claims thatUCDis better suited for explaining state formation in the Monarchy.