Decision-making in the early modern city political culture and institutions in Bremen c.1450-1700

Decision-making is one of government's fundamental purposes and most important duties, yet one of the hardest to reconstruct historically: What forms of reasoning were brought to bear on decision problems? Which procedures were used to reach decisions? Who was involved and what authority did they exercise? How did any given issue become a matter to be decided upon in the first place?
This dissertation examines how decisions were made in various political contexts, from mass assemblies to council sessions to private correspondence. To do so, it combines original archival research with interdisciplinary perspectives on decision-making, notably those of Uwe Schimank, Niklas Luhmann, and Herbert Simon, in a case-study of the government of the free Hanseatic city of Bremen (c.1450-1700). The Bremen State Archive’s collections allow for the study of personal perspectives alongside institutional records, making the city an ideal test case for this dissertation’s questions.
Across four chapters it argues, first, that urban magistrates were more pragmatic and problem-oriented than previous historiography has suggested. Second, that early modern decision-making relied on rational and non-rational forms of reasoning alike, both shaped by cultural, educational, and intellectual resources. Third, that political culture and institutions in early modern cities took shape under material, social, and temporal pressures in ways hitherto regarded as distinctive to modern, industrial societies. Underlying all three is a fourth claim: that decision-making can be an object of historical enquiry in its own right, with its own sources and methods, and a distinct contribution to our understanding of past societies.