Enlightened Reform in Southern Europe and its Atlantic Colonies, c. 1750-1830

Taylor & Francis

This volume broadens and reinvigorates the debate about the connections which link enlightenment thought and government reform in the eighteenth century. In order to complement, expand and rejuvenate the debate which has so far concentrated largely on Northern, Central and Eastern Europe, this volume brings together historians of Southern Europe and its ultramarine empires to reappraise a specific aspect of 'enlightened absolutism' and 'enlightened reform'. In so doing it engages creatively with pressing issues in the current historical literature and suggests new directions for future research. This well-conceived, balanced volume, drawing on the expertise of a small, carefully-chosen cohort offers an exciting investigation of this pressing historical debate. > Efforts to ascertain the influence of enlightenment thought on state action, especially government reform, in the long eighteenth century have long provoked stimulating scholarly quarrels. Generations of historians have gr'