The Politics of Appointment

A unique study on the relationship between state administration and politics, examining how the office of the Czech Landsmannminister became the primary vehicle for the politicization of the Habsburg state. Through case studies in Vienna, Prague, and Ceské Budejovice, it chronicles the Young Czech Party’s systematic campaign to gain control of selected key positions within the administration of the multinational monarchy. The narrative details how ministers used personnel policy to embed loyalists within the bureaucracy, consistently bypassing merit in favor of national and political allegiance to successfully “Czechize” the formally supranational administration.