Accounting for power: Population data and state building (England, Japan)

This dissertation examines the relationship between the collection of population data by governments and the development of governmental power in the process known as state building. This relationship is examined through the empirical analysis and comparison of three historical cases: England under the rule of William the Conqueror and his successors, Japan under the rule of the Tokugawa shoguns, and the Holy Roman Empire under the rule of Charlemagne. The analysis and comparison of these cases suggests that the collection and control of information from subject populations enables increases in the power which governments can exercise over those populations, and assists in the development of governing institutions.