Professionals or decision-makers?: The agency of Dutch urban administrative officials, c. 1500-1700

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Title: Professionals or decision-makers?: The agency of Dutch urban administrative officials, c. 1500-1700
Authors: Manger, Christian, den Hollander, Maurits
Source: Bijdragen en Mededelingen betreffende de Geschiedenis der Nederlanden / Low countries historical review. 140(3):25-47
Publisher Information: Koninklijk Nederlands Historisch Genootschap, 2025.
Publication Year: 2025
Subject Terms: Urban Governance, Professionalisation, Officials, Bureaucracy, Institutions, SDG 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities
Description: This article analyses the unique position of secretaries and pensionaries in the governments of cities in the sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Northern Netherlands. At the centre of our analysis stands the tension which arose from the discrepancy between these officials’ extraordinary access to government knowledge and their formally subordinate and sometimes even foreign status. With particular attention for cases of conflict between these urban administrative officials and their ‘political’ superiors, this article explores the agency of secretaries and pensionaries in influencing urban governance through (informal) power, discretionary space, and influence on policy-making. This broad study argues that local context and individual networks provided urban administrative officials with considerable scopes of action, which adds a new facet to our understanding of late medieval and early modern governance in its day-to-day practice.
Document Type: Article
Language: English
ISSN: 2211-2898
0165-0505
DOI: 10.51769/bmgn-lchr.19533
Access URL: https://research.tilburguniversity.edu/en/publications/cc196c09-15f8-4d03-bdde-cfb002a0602d
Rights: CC BY
Accession Number: edsair.dris...01181..3a48cdb37ad722b79550539b8d662719
Database: OpenAIRE
Be the first to leave a comment!
You must be logged in first