WHAT Territorial Governance and State Representatives in the Long 19th Century. Circulation of Knowledge, Models and Men, Conference and Call for papers
WHEN December 7-8, 2017
WHERE Open Universiteit, Campus Vrije Universiteit Brussels
Throughout
Europe, the 19th century saw the growth and modernisation of many levels of
administration. The state-building process frequently led to the introduction
or consolidation of sub-national, or territorial, representatives of the
government such as governors and prefects. Many types of representatives of the
state have existed in Europe, and many still do. Long, historical research into
territorial administration and state representatives was nationally-orientated
and disregarded the cultural dimension. As a result, European territorial
administration and state officials are scarcely explored from a
historical-comparative or cross-cultural viewpoint.
Recently,
instigated by Pierre Karila-Cohen (Rennes 2/Institut Universitaire de France),
an international group of researchers, inspired by developments in various
disciplines, has taken up the challenge of filling this historiographical gap.
Colloquiums were held in 2015 and 2016, in Rennes (see http://www.sites.univ-rennes2.fr/cerhio/spip.php?article1699 and https://www.univ-rennes2.fr/cerhio/actualites/colloque-international-civils-militaires-dans-administration-territoriale). The objective of this 3th
colloquium, to be held in Brussels, is to further the understanding of
territorial officials and administration from a transnational point-of-view.
Within the
humanities, the past decades have seen the development of transnational
approaches to problematize the nation-state as a unit of analysis. A striking
paradox in the history of state-building is that nation-states frequently were
shaped using foreign examples. Even though states underscored the national
character of their institutions, reforms actually emerged from transnational
communication. Both in the social sciences and humanities, the notion of
‘circulation’ has taken root to examine contemporary travelling concepts on
good (public) governance, and the intermediaries that transgressed national
borders, thus facilitating the exchange of ideas. Drawing on these strands in
research, this colloquium proposes to investigate territorial governance and
state representatives through the prism of ‘circulation’.
