European State Characteristics and Colonial Models

Basic Characteristics of European States in the Late Liberal Era

Form of State

• Constitutional Monarchy: A representative system where the monarchy progressively lost executive functions to parliamentary government.
• Republicanism: Consolidated primarily in France and Switzerland.

Type of State

Centralizing and Secular: States tended toward a concentration of power and a reduction or elimination of the Church's influence.

Economic Policy

Protectionism: High tariffs were imposed on foreign products to stimulate domestic consumption and industrialization (with the exception of England).

Social Policy

Interventionalism: Liberal governments began regulating working conditions and participating in education, notably in Bismarck's Germany.

Type of Suffrage

• Censitary Suffrage: The right to vote was treated as a privilege.
• Universal Male Suffrage: Established in France in 1848 and in Germany by 1860.

Political Organization

• Political Parties: Emerged and consolidated to represent main currents of opinion and class interests.
• Pressure Groups: Continued to exist across political, economic, and social spheres to defend specific interests.

Forms of Domination

• Colony: Imposed on territories where indigenous governments were replaced by direct metropolitan administration via a governor and appointed institutions (e.g., Black Africa).
• Protectorate: Indigenous governments remained in charge of internal affairs, while the metropolis controlled the army and foreign policy (e.g., France in Vietnam and Cambodia).
• Metropolitan Territories: A system used by France where colonies were considered extensions of the mainland, with inhabitants represented in metropolitan institutions (e.g., Algeria).
• Domain: The British system implemented in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, where settlers managed self-government while maintaining links to the metropolis via a governor overseeing foreign policy.
• Concession: Areas that were politically independent but ceded or rented to foreign powers to serve commercial interests (e.g., China).