Otto Hintze

The great German scholar Otto Hintze (1861-1940) is still known to many primarily as a Prussian or even Hohenzollern historian. However, his scholarly work extends far beyond these research fields and is impressively relevant today. This is especially true regarding a historical sociology of bureaucracy, the methodological shift towards global history, and a power-political realism that does not shy away from the question of the possibilities for stable international peace orders. Hintze's work represents a critical continuation of historicism with great openness to the social sciences. It can be read as a complement and corrective to the writings of Max Weber and Ernst Troeltsch, but also as an alternative to Carl Schmitt, and thus rightly receives increasing international attention.