Economic Policies and Historical Shifts in Governance

1. Economic Policies

What are economic policies? Strategies or packages designed by governments regarding the economic driving of their country.

2. Administrative Policy Organization

Based on an administrative policy, an organization composed of various local authorities with some capacity for self-government, but dependent on the central government for main functions, is referred to as:

3. Mercantilism

"Colbert only seeks that the French are able to dispense with all other peoples (...) One of the main causes of the shortage of money in France, in the midst of such plenty of corn and wine, comes from the Dutchmen no longer seeking them, as they did in the past, because our conduct with regard to trade with them clearly shows that we do not want to conduct any trade." This text refers to: Mercantilism.

4. Establishing a Governing Body

The establishment of a governing body bequeathing higher legal and institutional functioning of a state, through the Constitution, refers to:

5. Anglo-French War

In the mid-eighteenth century, the British began expanding westward and crossed the Appalachians, causing the war between England and France for control of: Louisiana and Canada.

6. Physiocrats

From the eighteenth century came another economic theory from the intellectual hand of François Quesnay, called: Physiocracy, which was "Laissez faire, laissez passer" (let it do, let it pass).

7. Reforms of Charles III

Charles III, the greatest exponent of enlightened despotism, introduced sweeping reforms in Spain and the administration of its American colonies in order to: Reverse Spain's decline.

8. Charles IV and the French Revolution

Reforms slowed under Charles IV (successor of Charles III), mainly because: The French Revolution began in 1789.

9. Separation of Powers

Separation of powers refers to: The current trend to decentralize state functions, rather than focusing on the executive as occurred under absolute monarchies.

10. Absolutism in Europe

From the late Middle Ages onward, much of Europe underwent a process of power concentration in the hands of kings or monarchs. In the Modern Age, this culminated in the emergence of absolutism: Absolutism was the main political system in most of Europe for centuries, especially dominant since the early eighteenth century, with the exception of Great Britain, where the king was subject to the law and Parliament.