Pre-revolutionary provinces in a post-napoleonic state

The United Kingdom of the Netherlands was a state of contrasts. Not only did its political system combine elements from the Old Regime with the modern, postrevolutionary Napoleonic administration; it also brought together two territories with very different political backgrounds. This article explores how the new regime in the Netherlands dealt with these contrasts by focusing on the establishment of the provinces in the years 1813-1815. It argues that the appropriation of pre-modern institutions and sentiments by the authorities in post-Napoleonic Europe was an important asset for the development of the new unitary state, but that at the same time a regionally differentiated approach was indispensable to lending this policy credibility.SCOPUS: ar.j