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  • Chapter Two - Constitutions and the Persistence of Empires

  • Chris Thornhill, University of Birmingham
  • Book:
    A Sociology of Post-Imperial Constitutions
    Published online:
    06 December 2024
    Print publication:
    12 December 2024, pp 108-166

  • Summary

    This chapter discusses how constitutional ideals were reconfigured through the nineteenth century. In the first instance, the democratic aspect of constitutional law was suppressed by the Congress of Vienna in 1815. Over time, however, states began to use constitutions in instrumental fashion, so that a distinct model of imperialist sensationalism took shape in the longer wake of 1848. This model was designed to extract military capacity from society without stimulating deep internal conflict. In some respects, as European expansion gained pace after 1870, this model imposed conditions of military regimentation in both metropolitan societies and colonized societies, as societies were generally structured in accordance with military imperatives. The chapter also considers how these processes were reproduced in societies exposed to European expansion, such as Japan and China.