Agencies of Enlightened Welfare: "French" Links to Police Reforms in the Habsburg Monarchy in the Second Half of the 18th century (Part I)
2008
Abstract
The article analyses connections between police reforms introduced in the Habsburg monarchy, primarily in Vienna between the 1750s and 1770s, and the institution of Paris metropolitan police.The focus is placed on law-enforcement bodies in Vienna (and to some extent in Prague and Bohemia) during the 17th and the first half of the 18th centuries. Then, the article sets out to describe the attitudes of leading figures in the Austrian monarchy of the time (Maria Theresa, Joseph II, Wentzl Anton Kaunitz-Rietberg, and Ambassador Mercy-Argenteau) to the organisation of public life and social institutions in Paris.