Abstract
The work of Otto Hintze offers a rare combination of long-term historical perspective, detailed description of institutional arrangements, exploration of broad developmental trends as well as understanding of the factors producing divergent patterns of political development. One of the dominant themes of his comparative writing is his conception of Europe as comprising a heartland, which developed military-bureaucratic government institutions, and a set of peripheral states in which institutions of self-government were more likely to develop. While Hintze's analysis largely only goes as far as the nineteenth century, it offers a number of insights into understanding the development of the modern state in Europe.
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