Cameralism in the Habsburg Monarchy and Hungary

Abstract

The article argues that Cameralism and the Habsburg Monarchy were in strong mutual interchange during the eighteenth century. After the Great Turkish War and the War of the Spanish Succession, the Habsburg Monarchy had to incorporate vast territories into the monarchy’s governmental system. Integration, unification, and centralization were on the agenda. Viennese government circles relied on Cameralism as the leading theory of state, economy, and society, while Cameralism rose, broadened, and became institutionalized in administration and higher education. The most important works of late-seventeenth-century Cameralism were formulated in the service of Emperor Leopold I. Cameralism with different branches of knowledge serviceable for the state became fully institutionalized in the higher education in the Habsburg Monarchy—including Hungary. Cameralism, specifically the ideas of Johann Heinrich Gottlob von Justi, can be linked to the fundamental administrative reforms of Count Friedrich Wilhelm von Haugwitz under Maria Theresa in the 1740s and of Emperor Joseph II in the 1780s. Justi developed an idea of government characterized by centralization, uniformity, and bureaucracy, which became a priority goal of Joseph II’s reforms. Finally, Cameralism was the backbone of policies in finances, taxation, and trade regulations though more openminded toward rising economic ideas.