Abigail Green

HUMANITARIANISM IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY CONTEXT: RELIGIOUS, GENDERED, NATIONAL *

This article surveys the wave of new historical and political-science literature exploring humanitarianism and the ‘pre-history’ of human rights in the long nineteenth century, noting the presentist assumptions underpinning much of this literature. On the one hand, histories of humanitarianism have focused on the origins of present-day humanitarian concerns, paying particular attention to the anti-slavery movement. On the other hand, the overwhelming majority of this literature has explored Anglo-American (and usually Protestant) humanitarianism to the exclusion of the humanitarian campaigns and ideologies of other nations and faith traditions. A more properly historical approach is required, which would pay greater attention to the fusion of religious and secular traditions of activism, to the particular role of women in constituting these traditions, and to the different national contexts in which they bore fruit. Such an approach would also expand our understanding of ‘humanitarian’ activity to incorporate causes with less obvious present-day relevance, such as the temperance movement and Josephine Butlers campaign against the state regulation of prostitution. It would certainly prompt deeper reflection on the contingency of humanitarianism as a topic of historical inquiry, at least as currently constructed.

THE FEDERAL ALTERNATIVE? A NEW VIEW OF MODERN GERMAN HISTORY

The review examines the recent literature on German federalism. This literature has identified a decentralized, federal tradition in German history, dating back at least to the eighteenth century and in striking contrast with the ‘unitary’ traditions of the Prussian state. The review questions the extent to which centralization was indeed a Prussian phenomenon in German history by examining the relatively decentralized nature of the Prussian state and the strongly centralizing tendencies of smaller German states in the nineteenth century. The review also examines the origins of the new ‘federal’ historiography, both in terms of contemporary German politics and in terms of the political debate surrounding German unification in the 1860s. It concludes that the idea of a ‘unitary’ Prussian state tradition is simplistic and reflects the inherent anti-Prussian bias of German federalism in the unification era. In this sense, it is the federal counterpart of the better-known Borussian approach to German history.

Intervening in the public sphere: German governments and the press, 1815-1870

This article argues that the growth of a free press in nineteenth-century Germany went hand in hand with the growth of an official, government-sponsored, press. The collapse of pre-publication censorship in 1848 prompted the development of increasingly sophisticated (and relatively successful) press control strategies by German governments, in the shape of official newspapers, semi-official newspapers, and indirect government press influence. Government press policy was essentially reactive. Changes in press policy were usually prompted by political events. Furthermore, government press coverage was forced to reflect shifts in public opinion in order to maximize readership of official propaganda. Government press policy focused not just on the dissemination of pro-government opinion, but also on the dissemination of pro-government information, probably the most effective form of government press influence. News management was subtle, and targeted small circulation local newspapers, rather than high profile opposition newspapers. Consequently, historians have tended to overlook the scale of government news management.

Nationalism and the 'Jewish International' : Religious Internationalism in Europe and the Middle East c.1840-c.1880

The author focuses on the development, in the mid-nineteenth century, of a global Jewish public that defined itself and its interests in explicitly religious terms. This religious sphere resembled international Catholic and Protestant movements, in which bodies of believers were being steadily transformed into bodies of opinion. These publics had their unifying causes, their media, their heroes and villains and they were variously opposed to, or strategically aligned with, each other. Green suggests that a new kind of Jewish modernity was worked out in these religious publics before secular variants of Zionism developed ; indeed, these new, international modernities functioned as preconditions for a secular Zionism that could unite Jews in and beyong Europa. That Jewish publics evolved in tandem with Catholic and Protestant publics, Green argues, has implications that are averlooked when historians privilege the secular contexts in which Zionism (and other variants of nationalism) emerged.

The Limits of Intervention: Coercive Diplomacy and the Jewish Question in the Nineteenth Century

This paper argues that exploring diplomatic responses to the Jewish question casts new light on the purpose of humanitarian intervention within the international system during the nineteenth century. It contrasts international responses to the question of Jewish minority rights in Morocco and Romania during the 1860s and 1870s, with particular reference to the Congress of Berlin (1878) and the Conference of Madrid (1880). The former resulted in a Treaty endorsing the principle of religious equality in the Ottoman Empire and the emerging nation-states of the Balkans, while the latter resulted only in a non-binding Declaration in favour of religious freedom. Thus the international system favoured humanitarian intervention in the Christian polity of Romania but not in the Muslim polity of Morocco: a conclusion that complicates assumptions about humanitarian intervention as essentially directed by Christian powers against the Muslim Ottoman Empire. Paradoxically, diplomatic attempts to enforce religious equality in the Ottoman Empire and the emerging Christian states of the Balkans reflected a willingness to recognise these powers as fully fledged members of the emerging international system, provided that they adopted certain constitutional norms. Morocco was given greater latitude, because diplomats and Western observers ultimately believed it incapable of making this leap.

Introduction: Rethinking Religion and Globalization

The role of religion in international politics has brought the globalization of religious ideologies and identities to the top of the twenty-first-century agenda. The central idea behind this book is that the globalization and politicization of traditional religious identities is a historical phenomenon with deep roots in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The world’s major religions have always defied territorial or ethnic boundaries, but it is our contention that the modern era saw the emergence of a new and distinctive phenomenon: the religious international.

Representing Germany? The Zollverein at the World Exhibitions, 1851–1862

In 1843 the Braunschweig liberal Karl Steinacker claimed, “The Zollverein has now become the principal home of the idea of [national] unity, which will develop ever more strongly within it. Increasingly, and particularly abroad, people will understand Germany as primarily the members of the Zollverein.”1 At the time, this was hardly a controversial opinion: it was almost an article of faith for liberals that economic union would pave the way for greater political unity in Germany. Yet Steinacker’s statement is unusual for the emphasis he places on perception. He suggests that the Prussian-dominated customs union known as the Zollverein will promote German unity not just by encouraging economic interdependence but by changing what both Germans and foreigners understand Germany to be. This possibility, which is the main concern of this article, has been largely overlooked in the literature dealing with the role of the Zollverein in German unification. Instead, the debate has centered on the relationship between economic and political convergences in Germany, asking how far the emergence of this customs union after 1834 rendered the creation of a Prussian-dominated nation-state in 1871 inevitable. At issue here is the relationship between economic structures and political institutions—how far did the former shape the latter? In answering this question, two strands of inquiry have emerged. In the first, historians such as Wolfgang Zorn, Klaus Megerle, and R. H. Dumke have focused on economic issues such as the growth of economic interdependency among Zollverein member states, the fiscal advantages of membership for Zollverein governments, and the role of the Zollverein in promoting Germany’s economic takeoff in the mid-nineteenth century.2 The second strand

Spirituality, Tradition and Gender: Judith Montefiore, the Very Model of a Modern Jewish Woman

Summary Judith Montefiores life has attracted attention principally by association with that of her husband Sir Moses Montefiore (1784–1885), the pre-eminent Jewish figure of his age. This article emphasises instead Judiths pioneering role as a Jewish woman travel-writer and influential female voice in the world of Jewish letters and international Jewish politics. To Jews in the Holy Cities of Palestine and the ghettos and shtetls of Eastern Europe, Judith was—like her husband—a beacon of hope, an example to follow and an instrument of change. Her activities drew on a rich vein of Jewish tradition and a series of profound encounters with Middle Eastern and, to a lesser extent, Eastern European Jewries, which shaped her spiritual world. These paradoxes are easily conceptualised by the contrast between Judiths different worlds: the Jewish world that underpinned her marriage, structured her spirituality and infused her life with meaning, and the world of the English gentry and dissenting middle classes, with whom she mixed socially, and whose spiritual style, values, expectations, and mode of life shaped her in other, equally profound ways. This article argues, however, that it was the interaction and cross-fertilisation between these different worlds that enabled Judith to carve her distinctive path in life.

REFORM AND INERTIA: THE POLITICS OF CHANGE IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY GERMANY

Restaurationssystem und Reformpolitik: Suddeutschland und Preusen im Vergleich . Edited by Hans-Peter Ullmann and Clemens Zimmermann. Munich: R. Oldenbourg, 1996. Pp. 272. ISBN: 3-486-168-5. DM 98. Von Wien nach Koniggratz: die Sicherheitspolitik des Deutschen Bundes im europaischen Gleichgewicht, 1815–1816 . By Jurgen Angelow. Munich: R. Oldenbourg, 1996. Pp. 418. ISBN 3-486-56143-X. DM 88. Stadt und Burgertum in Frankfurt am Main. Ein besonderer Weg von der standischen zur modernen Burgergesellschaft, 1760–1914 . By Ralf Roth. Munich: R. Oldenbourg, 1996. Pp. 804. ISBN 3-486-56188-X. DM 128.