The League of extra and ordinary gentlemen.
Wealth-worthy members and intricately elected representatives
in the General Assembly of Kolozsvár/Cluj from 1890 to 1918

Abstract:

In the dualist period, between 1867 and 1918 the once rather medium-sized and mediocre town of Kolozsvár/Cluj consistently transformed into a city of sixty thousand inhabitants, housing a politically active bourgeoisie, wealthy industrialists and bankers, a chunky society of craftsmen, traders and laborers, being one of the three university centers, having the second largest press industry and – by the time the first world war entered its final year – hosting the biggest movie studio in the country. Progress was slow in the beginning but speeded up around 1890 due to a nationwide economic consolidation, and continued to transform not only the city’s urban aspect, but the attitude in which the local administration implemented modern urban policy concepts. The study at hand will make an attempt on presenting not the means by which this progress was possible, but rather under what authority, namely the city’s leadership and management structure, employing on law decrees, on city regulations, on written documents issued by the administration and on the local press of the period.

Keywords:

local government, Virilism, elections, urban politics