JOB: 3 PhD and 1 Post-doc position – ERC: “Challenging the Liberal World Order from Within: The Invisible History of the United Nations and the Global South” at Leiden University (DEADLINE: 31 May 2020)

(Source: Universiteit Leiden)

We learned of four positions at Leiden University within the new ERC-funded project “Challenging the Liberal World Order from Within: The Invisible History of the United Nations and the Global South”.

The three PhD projects are:

PhD project 1: African Activism at the UN

This project will be carried out by a candidate with expertise in African history. Knowledge of the French language is essential, knowledge of relevant African and other languages will be an advantage.

This PhD project will examine the contributions of 2-3 small to large states in Eastern and Western Africa (Ethiopia, Ghana, Senegal, Tanzania) in the thematic areas. They will define what perceptions of the UN were, the relationship of these countries to others in the region and internationally (especially considering the interplay between Pan-Africanism and African nationalism) and what their role was in developing agendas for reform. This project will trace the contribution of these countries to developments in the area of decolonization, economic development and human rights and should draw connections between the selected cases and other actors in Asia and Latin America. In particular, the project should highlight different African conceptions of decolonization and show how these played out in the general debates at the UN, providing a precursor for economic development and human rights. The PhD researcher will conduct relevant research in national African archives, UN archives and relevant archives of non-state actors such as the African Union in Addis Ababa.

PhD project 2: Beyond Bandung, Asia at the UN

This project will be carried out by a candidate with expertise in the history of Asia and/or South-East Asia. Knowledge of the relevant languages will be an advantage.

This PhD project will examine the contributions of 2-3 small to large states in Asia/South East Asia (China, India, Indonesia, Thailand) in the thematic areas. The research must include either China or India (with a preference for both) among other countries. The project will examine the contributions of these actors to decolonization, economic sovereignty and human rights generally, before focusing on one key aspect. In particular, the project should examine how the role of Asian states evolved from the Bandung moment in 1955, to their strong role in contesting the meaning of development in the 1970s. The candidate will conduct relevant research in national Asian and UN archives, especially ECOSOC and UNCTAD and the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library in Delhi and the archives of the Economic Commission for Asia and the Pacific in Bangkok among other non-state archives.

PhD project 3: Latin America and the UN

This project will be carried out by a candidate with expertise in the history of Latin America. Knowledge of the Spanish language will be essential, knowledge of Portuguese will be an advantage.

This PhD project will examine the contributions of 2-3 small to large states in Latin America (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador) and the Caribbean nations. The project will analyze the contributions of the selected actors to decolonization, economic development and human rights. In particular, it will investigate how Latin American actors forged alliances with African and Asian counterparts at the UN around issues of economic development. It will trace the emergence of the agenda for the creation of UNCTAD and examine how this was transformed into a wider crusade for the NIEO. It will also investigate how meanings of human rights were contested and examine in particular the contributions of the actors to the creation of the ICESCR. The candidate will conduct research in relevant national archives and the Economic Commission for Latin American and the Caribbean in Santiago. They will also conduct research in the archives of ECOSOC, UNCTAD, Frondizi Archives, Centro de Estudios Nacionales, Buenos Aires and Raúl Prebisch Papers, Prebisch Foundation, Buenos Aires, among others.

The Post Doc project:

Postdoc researcher: The United Nations as a Dynamic Globalizing Force

Project description

The main aim of this project is to reveal and unravel the invisible histories of the UN, transcending the dominant Western perspective to recover the historical agency of Global South actors. The research will investigate how the UN has both facilitated and limited their role in shaping global order. This will be an important contribution to current debates about UN reform and assessments of its performance, safeguarding against further marginalization of these actors. Within this overarching project, a 4,5 year postdoc position is available: The United Nation as a Dynamic Globalizing Force

The Postdoc will develop two parts of the main project. The first, essential to the overall research project, is a categorization of changes to the UN, keeping track of what structural, methodological and institutional changes were produced in the years under study. The second is a research element which analyzes the reception of Global South initiatives in Britain, France, Germany and the United States which is important to show how changes to the UN were perceived and what were the reactions to, and the success and failures of, efforts to alter political dynamics and redefine norms relating to decolonization (especially questions of contested sovereignty), economic sovereignty and human rights (especially the advancement of economic and social rights).

More information on the projects can be found here and here

JOBS: Postdoctoral and Research Scholarships, MPI for European Legal History (Frankfurt am Main) DEADLINE 31 MAY 2018

Postdoctoral and Research Scholarships 2019

The Max Planck Institute for European Legal History (MPIeR) in Frankfurt is a world leader in researching the history of law in Europe and beyond. Its two research departments with more than 60 scholars, the unrivalled collections of its specialized library and its numerous national and international co-operations make it the central research hub for a global scientific community investigating the past, present and future of legal regimes.

The Institute will be awarding several scholarships for a research stay at the MPIeR in 2019.

Postdoc Scholarships enable highly qualified junior scholars from abroad who already obtained a PhD to either develop a new research topic in a thematically relevant context or to pursue an already existing project.
Established scholars from abroad who have received their PhD more than 10 years ago can apply for a Research Scholarship, which enables them to come to the Institute as a visitor in order to pursue their own research project.
For a group of international researchers who already hold doctoral degrees and wish to pursue a joint research project, it is possible to jointly apply for scholarships at the MPIeR.

For 2019 the main areas of research pursued at the Institute are:

Department I – Professor Stefan Vogenauer

• Legal transfer in the common law world
• History of European Union Law
• Fundamental issues concerning legal reception

Department II – Professor Thomas Duve

• Diversity, property and dependency regimes in Iberian Imperial territories (16^th – 20^th century)
• Legal history of the School of Salamanca
• History of legal historiography: traditions of writing legal history

The scholarships are awarded for a period of three or six months. The research stay usually starts at the beginning of January/April/July/October. The amount of the scholarship awarded is dependent on the scholarship holder’s level of qualification. Postdocs receive 2100.00 € per month and research scholarship holders receive 2300.00 € per month.

Researchers from abroad who are employed and/or are receiving other forms of financial support have the option of receiving compensation of expenditures instead of a scholarship. This option is also open to employed researchers from Germany.

Scholarship holders are required to rent one of the Institute’s guest apartments for the duration of their stay, subject to availability. For further information, please visit our website (http://www.rg.mpg.de/welcome_center).

Applications should be complete (including CV, list of publications, and the form “Additional Application Details”) and submitted via the online application system. Furthermore, we request PDF copies of three major publications the applicant has authored within the last five years as well as the contact details of two personal referees.

A key document in the selection process is the project outline (2-4 pages), which should detail the current state of the project as well as plans for its development. This summary should also explain the project’s connection to the core topics currently being researched at the Institute.

All documents must be submitted via the online application system by 31 May 2018.

For further information, please visit our website http://www.rg.mpg.de/guest_programme.

JOB: Research Assistant /PhD Candidate/Post-Doc in Research Training Group "Metropolität in der Vormoderne" (University of Regensburg, Germany, 2017)

The DFG (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft) Research Training Group 2337/1 "Metropolität in der Vormoderne" (University of Regensburg, Germany) offers  10 x 0,65 Research Assistant / PhD Candidate and 1 x Post-Doc position.

all information here (only in German)

POSITION: Five Postdoctoral Research Associates at Max Planck Institute (Frankfurt, October 1 2015)

WHAT Five Postdoctoral Research Associates, call for positions

WHEN from October 1 2015 or as soon as possible thereafter 

WHERE Max Planck Institute for European Legal History, Frankfurt

all information here
deadline June 12 2015

for the following research fields in the department of Professor Stefan Vogenauer:
(1) Legal Transfer in the Common Law World;
(2) Legal History of the European Union 
Your tasks

You will develop, co-ordinate and pursue an independent project in one of the two research fields. Your research will turn on
(1) the development of rules, principles, doctrines and institutions of English law outside England, for example in selected jurisdictions of the British Empire; or
(2) the legal history of selected areas of EU law, particularly in their interaction with the legal sys-tems of the member states.
You will publish your findings and actively participate in the research activities of the Institute under the guidance of Professor Vogenauer.

Your profile

You hold a first class degree in law, the humanities or the social sciences and you produced an outstanding doctoral thesis or an equivalent portfolio of publications in a similar subject. Your CV shows the potential to produce outstanding research at an internationally advanced level. You work independently, are fully proficient in the English language and willing to learn German if necessary.

Our offer

PHD/POSTDOC POSITION: "Discourses of Weakness and Resource Regimes" (July 1, 2015)

WHAT: Discourses of Weakness and Resource Regimes, PHD/POST DOC POSITION in the field of late medieval /early modern history, legal history, or ecclesiastical history

WHEN: starting July 1, 2015 (3-year contracts)

WHERE: MPI, Max-Planck Institut fur europaische Rechtsgeschichte

The Max-Planck-Institute for European Legal History and the Goethe University Frankfurt am Main are partner institutions of the Collaborative Research Centre 1095 ‘Discourses of Weakness and Resource Regimes’. In this framework, the Max-Planck-Institute for European Legal History offers

Two PhD / Post-doctoral Positions in the field of late medieval / early modern history, legal history or ecclesiastical history (starting July 1, 2015, or later; 3-year contracts)

Research project

A Collaborative Research Centre / CRC (‘Sonderforschungsbereich’ / ‘SFB’ in German) is an institution established at German universities for a period of up to twelve years that enables researchers to pursue an outstanding research programme, crossing the boundaries of disciplines, institutes and faculties. Financed by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), it facilitates scientifically ambitious, complex, long-term research by concentrating and coordinating the resources available at a university.

The CRC 1095 ‘Discourses of Weakness and Resource Regimes’ at the Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, employs a transepochal and comparative approach in order to deal with the question of how discourses of weakness had an impact on the use of resources. These discourses can be observed in the history of all cultures at all times. Changes in the use of both material and immaterial resources constitute a special and important aspect of processes of historical transformation which will be addressed by historians, historians of science, anthropologists, philosophers, sinologists and legal historians within the framework of the new CRC 1095.

CRC sub-project C 01 ‘Knowledge of the pragmatici. Presence and significance of pragmatic normative literature in Ibero-America in the late 16th and early 17th century’, led by Prof. Dr. Thomas Duve, reflects upon the significance of normative texts which addressed themselves primarily to practitioners – especially those who would nowadays be seen as part of moral theology or confessional literature. The respective texts were ‘weak’ insofar as they lacked theoretical complexity compared to erudite treatises; they were ‘strong’, however, in terms of pragmatic usefulness because they offered the reader adaptable bases of normative knowledge. There are some indications that these resources helped to establish, even minimally, conceptions of normative order in early modern empires such as the Spanish one. It is the objective of the sub-project to bring to light not only the practical significance but also the intellectual weight of a literary genre which has received little attention for a long time. Characteristic of this genre are condensation processes which might constitute a considerable achievement in abstraction.

POST-DOC AND PHD: ERC Starting Grant on the Reception of Roman Law (University of Helsinki)

The ERC Starting Grant -financed research project ”Reinventing the Foundations of European Legal Culture 1934-1964” (foundlaw.org) is looking for one post doc and two doctoral students for a period of four years. The project studies the cultural reception of Roman law and the uses of the classical past by Roman law scholars and as such the positions are amply suited for Romanists and historians. 

The project is located at the University of Helsinki and offers a decent salary with full benefits. The persons selected are expected to begin work within the end of the year. 

Here are links to the full adverts: http://www.helsinki.fi/recruitment/index.html?id=64815 (post doc) 

http://www.helsinki.fi/recruitment/index.html?id=64817 (doctoral students)