Corruption, Public Service and the ‘Common Good’ in Western Europe in 19th Century

Date / time: 8 June, 9:00 am - 5:00 pm


International Conference | 8-9 June 2023 | 9.30am – 5pm | University of Stirling, Cottrell Building, Room 2V1, Stirlingshire FK9 4LA

Register here:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/corruption-public-service-and-the-common-good-in-western-europe-in-19th-tickets-557725651437


Programme – Thursday 8 June

9.30 – Registration

9.45 – Introduction and Welcome

10.00 – Keynote Address: Corruption equals periphery? Analyzing debates about corruption around 1900, Dr Ronald Kroeze (Radboud Universiteit, Nijmegen)

11.00 – Panel 1: Varieties of Anti-corruption approaches in Central Europe.

Paper 1 – Clerics Confront Corruption: The Cathedral Chapter of Eichstätt v. Prince-Bishop of Eichstätt, 1718 – 1725, Peter Roethke (University of Pennsylvania)

Paper 2 – Corruption, Reform, Enlightened Absolutism: Electoral Saxony’s Rétablissement after the Seven Years War, Professor Andre Wakefield (Pitzer College, California)

Paper 3 – Electoral Manipulation, Government Intervention and Political Culture in the Habsburg Monarchy: The 1872 ‘Chabrus’ Elections to the Bohemian Landtag, Dr Jonathan Kwan (University of Nottingham)

12.30 – Lunch

1.30 – Panel 2: How to ‘Get to Sweden’ – or Norway – or Germany

Paper 1 – From financial fraud to a Weberian bureaucracy? The development of the Norwegian state administration in the 19th century with a few Scandinavian comparisons, Dr Harald Espeli (Norwegian Business School)

Paper 2 – Concepts of Loyalty and Performance in the 19th century German civil service, Dr Marianne Czisnik

Paper 3 – Swedish exceptionalism? Why endemic corruption never took hold in Sweden during the 19th century, Dr Andreas Bagenholm (University of Gothenburg)

3.00 Break

3.30 – Panel 3: In Search of Public Service Excellence: Histories of Systems and Practices of Training and Education for Public Service

Paper 1 – The Dutch Experience, Dr Toon Kerkhoff (University of Leiden)

Paper 2 – The German Experience, Professor Stefan Fisch (University of Speyer)

Paper 3 – The British Experience, Dr Ian Cawood (University of Stirling)

5.00 – End of Day

17.00 – Conference Dinner – University Court Hotel


Programme – Friday 9 June

9.30 – Keynote address: Transformations of Corruption in 19th century: debates and practices, Professor Jens Ivo Engels (Technische Universitat, Darmstadt)

10.30 – Forum: Corruption Studies – Historical and Political approaches – competing or complementary?, Chair –Dr Sean Kippin (University of Stirling)

11.15 – Break

11.30 – Panel 4: A Relentless Obsession: Political and Administrative Immorality in Modern Spain

Paper 1 – Dr Maria Gemma Rubí Casals (Universitat Autònoma Barcelona)

Paper 2 – Dr Lluís Ferran Toledano Gonzàlez (Universitat Autònoma Barcelona)

Paper 3 – Joan Torrents Juncà (Universitat Autònoma Barcelona)

12.30 – Lunch

1.30 – Panel 5: Key moments in the Transformation of 19th Century British Administration

Paper 1 – Competence, candour and corruption: Changing values?, Hugh Gault

Paper 2 – Colonial Corruption and Public Office: Arthur Crawford’s Controversy in Late Nineteenth Century British India, Anubha Anushree (Stanford University)

Paper 3 – Conflicts of interest in public life: the reform and reinvention of a regulatory ideal in Britain, c. 1850–1914, Dr Tom Crook (Oxford Brookes University)

3.00 – Break

3.30 – Plenary: Did Western Europe experience a ‘revolution’ in administrative standards in 19th Century, Chair – Dr Ian Cawood (University of Stirling)

4.30 Close of Conference