Swedish Naval Administration, 1521-1721 ─ Resource Flows and Organisational Capabilities

Glete (history, Stockholm U., Sweden) places the development of the Swedish navy between 1521 and 1721 within the context of the historiography of early modern European state formation, which has often left navies out of their examinations despite the complexity of navies and what states' ability to manage naval competencies and resources can reveal about the development of states as complex organizations. Thus, his history is primarily about the development of organizational capabilities for managing external resources such as manpower, social authority, food, timber, metals, sailcloth, hemp, etc. and transforming them into naval power. The chapters are organized around the resource flows that went into producing Swedish naval power, focusing particularly on the organizational capabilities for managing materials, although discussion of men and leaders is included by bringing together results form other studies and interpreting them in long-term perspective. Annotation c2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Jan Glete, Ph.D. (1975) in History, Stockholm University, was Professor of History at Stockholm University. He published extensively on economic history, international naval history and early modern European state formation.