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'Cameralism' was a German science of admininstration. According to Lindenfeld, it was divided into three: public finance, ''Oeconomie'' and ''Polizei''.^[1] Here ''Oeconomie'' did not mean exactly 'economics', nor ''Polizei'' 'public policy' in the modern senses. Cameralism was the German counterpart of the French mercantilism of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, and developed also in the eighteenth century.
In its origins, it was an educational path for the civil servants of the royal chamber, hence its name. The administrator of the royal finances was called ''camerarius''. Cameralism is a predecessor of the modern science of public administration.

Contents

The case of Prussia

Academic status

Reference

Notes

The case of Prussia

Cameralism was an economic and social school of thought within 18th century Prussia to reform society. The state should not only focus on maintaining the law, but should also promote the collective prosperity, for example by taking economic measures. Its objective was to put the complete population in service of the common good.

Academic status

In the 18th century the need for administrative expertise grew. King Frederick William I of Prussia established professoriates in cameralism at the universities of Frankfurt and Halle. The best known professor of cameralism was Johann Heinrich Gottlob Justi (1717-1771), who linked Kameralism and the idea of natural law with each other.
The University of Utrecht also established a professorate in Cameralism.

Reference

★ David F. Lindenfeld (1997), ''The Practical Imagination: The German Sciences of State in the Nineteenth Century''

Notes

1. Lindenfeld, pp.14-18