Natural Time and Bureaucratic Time: State Building, Forests and Environmental Conflicts in the 1800s

Abstract

Historians traditionally consider the Napoleonic period a key point in the process of state centralization in most of continental Europe. This is certainly true of the legislative and administrative transformations overseen by state authorities during that epoch. However, there is still much to learn about the consequences of these changes on the ground, especially in peripheral regions. In this respect, an environmental history approach can provide new perspectives on the growing presence of state authorities in the management of environmental resources and associated struggles in rural areas. In this article, I analyse the reactions of some alpine communities to state intervention in the years following the implementation of Napoleonic reforms. The lens through which these interactions are observed is that of valorisation of forest resources, which were the economic linchpin of alpine communities and, at the same time, a strategic issue for state authorities.

Understanding the Southern Italian commons: polycentric governance on the mountains of Sila

“…Naturally, researching governance patterns of collective action is not a new or unique activity, considering that over the last few decades several historical studies have described the so-called ‘silent revolution’ of the commoners (De Moor 2017, 18 and 84) – that is, the institutionalisation of collective action in several western European countries (see Thompson 1991; De Moor 2008 and 2010; De Moor et al 2016), including Italy (e.g. Alfani and Rao 2011; Bonan 2016 and 2018). However, few researchers have illustrated the historical process that led to the institutionalisation of Southern Italian commons (Corona 2009; Bulgarelli Lukacs 2015).…”

An Environmental History of the First Attempts to Straighten the River Inn in Tyrol (1745–1792)

“…The entire organization and all administrative procedures of the Main Ark Inspection authority were precisely aligned with and adapted to the rivers' seasonally significant fluctuating discharge regime. This administrative adaptation applied to the management of all natural resources [47]. The inspector spent approximately six weeks at the river banks on each occasion.…”