Germany's and Italy's belated national unifications continue to loom large in contemporary debates. Often regarded as Europe's paradigmatic instances of failed modernization, the two countries form the basis of many of our most prized theories of social science. Structuring the State undertakes one of the first systematic comparisons of the two cases, putting the origins of these nation-states and the nature of European political development in new light. Daniel Ziblatt begins his analysis with a striking puzzle: Upon national unification, why was Germany formed as a federal nation-state and Italy as a unitary nation-state? He traces the diplomatic maneuverings and high political drama of national unification in nineteenth-century Germany and Italy to refute the widely accepted notion that the two states' structure stemmed exclusively from Machiavellian farsightedness on the part of militarily powerful political leaders. Instead, he demonstrates that Germany's and Italy's "founding fathers" were constrained by two very different pre-unification patterns of institutional development. In Germany, a legacy of well-developed sub-national institutions provided the key building blocks of federalism. In Italy, these institutions' absence doomed federalism. This crucial difference in the organization of local power still shapes debates about federalism in Italy and Germany today. By exposing the source of this enduring contrast, Structuring the State offers a broader theory of federalism's origins that will interest scholars and students of comparative politics, state-building, international relations, and European political history.

List of Figures and Tables ixPreface xi
CHAPTER ONE: Introduction: How Nation-States Are Made 1
CHAPTER TWO: The National Critical Juncture: An Overview of the Dynamics of Regionalism and National Unification 18
CHAPTER THREE: The National Moment in Germany: The Dynamics of Regionalism and National Unification, 1834-1871 32
CHAPTER FOUR: The National Moment in Italy: The Dynamics of Regionalism and National Unification, 1815-1860 57
CHAPTER FIVE: From Strong Regional Loyalties to a Unitary System: National Unification by Conquest and the Case of Italy 79
CHAPTER SIX: From Strong Regional Loyalties to a Federal System: National Unification by Negotiation and the Case of Germany 109
CHAPTER SEVEN: Conclusion: The Politics of Federalism and Institution Building in the Nineteenth Century and Beyond 141
APPENDIX A: Prenational German and Italian States, 1850s-1860s 153
APPENDIX B: Origins of Federalism Data on Seventeen Largest West European Nation-States 161
Notes 167
References 201
Index 217