1. The Clerical Profession in Transylvania during the Habsburg Empire and of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (1848-1918) • Ioan Marius Eppel, Babes-Bolyai University, Romanian Academy; Ioan Bolovan, Romanian Academy and Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca.

2. The Boundaries of the American State: Transformations in the Recruitment Structure of Elite Administrative Positions, 1850-2000 • Benjamin Rohr, University of Mannheim; William McAllister, Columbia University.

3. Living under Rank Inflation: The First Imperial Transition in China Recharted • Dewei Shen, City University of Hong Kong.