A particular relationship with space, usually called territoriality, is one of the essential characteristics of the modern state. This statement was long considered a commonplace. Recent debates, however, have raised new fundamental questions about both space and the state which require a re-examination of both terms, and thus of the connections between them as well. This introduction maps out some of the terminological and theoretical ground for research into these questions. We successively examine the conceptual history of the state, of public administration, and of space, pointing out reifying uses of all three notions which have been repudiated in theoretical debates but remain influential in many historiographical accounts, as well as in popular discourse. We highlight alternative approaches suggested by newer authors. In particular, we describe both the state and administration in terms of assemblages of people, institutions, and objects. Given that this perspective is also used in some current socio-cultural theories of space, we conclude that states and administrations not only exist in space, use space, and create and shape spaces, but that they are themselves spaces and can be analyzed using the methodological tools which apply to spaces of any kind.

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Revolution? The Year 1848 in the Countryside. Contrary to widespread assumptions, it was not only in Vienna and other major European cities that revolutionary movements occurred in 1848. Rural areas too saw a wave of protests against existing institutions and experimentation with new forms of political activity, involving large segments of the population. This concerned not only the traditional resistance to the manorial system and its dues, which attained its goal in 1848 with the defeudalisation law, but multiple other phenomena too. This chapter discusses innovations in political communication, elections and parliamentary politics, the National Guard, and the reactions to the October Revolution in Vienna. It is reasonable to believe that these new experiences left permanent marks on the political consciousness of the rural population and had a long-term impact on the development of its relationship with the state.

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