MONARŞİYİ AKILLA YÖNETMEK: HABSBURG MODERNLEŞMESİNDE DOĞAL HUKUK VE POLİZEİWİSSENSCHAFT’IN ROLÜ
GOVERNİNG MONARCHY THROUGH REASON: THE ROLE OF NATURAL LAW AND POLİZEİWİSSENSCHAFT İN HABSBURG MODERNİZATİON

Summary/Abstract: This article analyzes the institutional transformation of the Habsburg Monarchy during the period coded as “enlightened absolutism” between 1740 and 1790, in light of the intellectual and doctrinal dynamics that shaped the process. The study’s originality lies in its demonstration of how the modernization initiatives extended beyond mere administrative or military responses, revealing the organic manner in which the doctrine of Natural Law (Naturrecht), systematized by Christian Wolff, and the Science of Public Order and Security (Polizeiwissenschaft), developed within the framework of Cameralism, permeated the practical operations of the state. Accordingly, the article reinterprets the reforms as an intellectual project grounded in reason of state (ratio status), and carried out under the leadership of the monarch and a cadre of elite bureaucrats such as Haugwitz, Kaunitz, and Sonnenfels. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach that combines historical analysis with philosophical and institutional dimensions, the study presents a comparative framework through the three-stage reign that follows a dialectical trajectory: the pragmatism of Maria Theresa, the radicalism of Joseph II, and the synthesis of Leopold II. In this respect, it meticulously investigates the causal links between theoretical texts, university curricula, and the intellectual formation of statesmen, on the one hand, and the concrete implementation of reforms—such as cadastral surveys and fiscaladministrative reorganization—on the other. Furthermore, the analysis of governance and institutional transformation demonstrates that centralizing reforms—exemplified by the establishment of the Directorium in publicis et cameralibus and subsequently the Staatsrat—were deeply implemented in Inner Austrian and Bohemian territories. In contrast, in regions such as the Kingdom of Hungary and Banska Croatia, a policy of strategic exclusion and indirect influence was pursued due to geopolitical sensitivities and entrenched traditional autonomies. This situation reflects the institutional manifestation of the tense equilibrium between central authority and local privileges (Stände) within the multiethnic structure of the monarchy. Indeed, the study underscores that the scope of this transformation was not confined to a mere increase in military or fiscal capacity. Through the state control of education, the rationalization of law, the reconfiguration of taxation logic, and the ideals of social engineering, it represented a comprehensive process of modernization that redefined the relationship between state, society, and individual. This process not only ensured the short-term survival of the Habsburg Monarchy but also established the administrative and legal infrastructure necessary to confront the nationalism-based challenges that would emerge in the nineteenth century.

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