Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online

Get access

Communalism
(2,142 words)

1. Definition

The term communalism was developed in the early 1980s as a scholarly term referring to a particular form of political order [2], triggering a critical debate [5] that led to its Europeanization and gave it a secure place in historiography [4]. The term serves to characterize the lifeworld shaped by local communities/communes in Old Europe. It is more precise than German Gemeinde, recalling Latin communitas (“community”) as a subset of universitas (“total…

Cite this page
Blickle, Peter, “Communalism”, in: Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online, Editors of the English edition: Graeme Dunphy, Andrew Gow. Original German Edition: Enzyklopädie der Neuzeit. Im Auftrag des Kulturwissenschaftlichen Instituts (Essen) und in Verbindung mit den Fachherausgebern herausgegeben von Friedrich Jaeger. Copyright © J.B. Metzlersche Verlagsbuchhandlung und Carl Ernst Poeschel Verlag GmbH 2005–2012. Consulted online on 19 March 2024 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2352-0272_emho_COM_022441>
First published online: 2015
First print edition: 20170206



▲   Back to top   ▲