Morgane Labbe

Statistics as both a quantitative science and a state-administrative practice was closely associated with the building of nation-states and of multinational empires. Backing to the Foucault concept of « gouvernementality » this research investigates the historical conditions linking a statistical knowledge on population with national claims and state level policy. Considering statistics as a practical knowledge the research deals with various materials including graphical. It concerns mostly the central and east European field, in a long historical perspective : starting in 1848 with the emergence of statistics within the national claims, it examines their spread through the 19th century until the First World War focusing on the rise of statistical expertise as an authoritative technique to resolve international