Horváth J. András: A megigényelt világváros. Budapest hatósága és lakossága a városegyesítés éveiben - Disszertációk Budapest Főváros Levéltárából 2. (Budapest, 2010)

Summary

SUMMARY

Budapest Local Government and its Citizens at Unification Period (1867-1890)

My aim in this work is to demonstrate endeavourings, aims, range of emotions and scopes of ideas of urban politics, from an outward perspective and through institutions characteristics.

Budapest’s events fitted into a rather general type of urban history process concerning urban development characteristics and city politicians’ behaviour and manifestations. Discourses at that time on the making of Budapest, views and aspirations, were only but variants of transnational manifestations and may be called a renaissance of urban middle classes.

Budapest must not be regarded as only a dependent variable of the general process of the country modernization. Roles and different city’s official manifestations were significant in unfolding general issues. Many of them were strongly relevant with respect to national politics.

Despite a good deal of initiatives emanating from old city representatives, it is not too fair to consider them as hardheaded village elders. These aspirations do not differ basically from ambitious claims assertions or liberal civic expansions from the middle classe, perceptible throughout Europe in 1860-1880s. Urban institutions considered at that time as „frameworks” had an intermediary role between the declining feudal order and modem types of national structures occuring during later decades.

We shall focus our attention on Birmingham mayor, Joseph Chamberlain’s urban activity, and Prussian clerk of state, Rudof von Gneist’s civic ideology and pattem of management.

The Gneist concept was based von Stem’s, stressed on the unavertable tasks of urban elites. He perceived, that the Verwaltungsstaat was incompetent in fulfilling comprehensive welfare needs. He aimed to get prosperous burghers more

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