Elite Co-Option and State Formation in the British Atlantic World, c. 1530-1700

Michael J. Braddick

The development of the state in early modern England was not a matter simply of executive will or "centralisation." Instead it rested on a process of elite co-option in which influential groups made use of Crown authority in pursuit of their own interests or ideals. The increasing reach of Crown authority was therefore partly the result of a mutuality of interests between "centre" and "locality." The paper suggests that this is a helpful perspective from which to examine the development of the extended Tudor/Stuart polity in the British Atlantic world. Although force played an important part in integrating and protecting Stuart territorial interests, in all cases broader ideals of governance were predicated on, and underpinned by, a broader process of cultural and commercial integration that was not governmental in origin. Still less was it an expression of "executive" or "central" will over local interests, and so the paper offers a critique of accounts of these developments that emphasize force to the exclusion of other processes.

[WP #97014]