Our workshop aims to discuss modern statehood and state building in contemporary Spain. Following Charles S. Maier’s concept “Leviathan 2.0”, the focus will be on ideas and practices of governance and their transformation in Spain since the 19th century. Our aim is both to analyse the domestic dimensions of statehood and conditions for state building and to trace the influence of international developments and transnational exchange processes of concepts, ideas and knowledge. We are particularly interested in how concepts of statehood and governance intertwined with ideas of political, social and economic order – from the liberal state of the 19th century to the military and developmental dictatorship of Primo de Rivera and the Second Republic to Francoism and the subsequent establishment of a parliamentary monarchy. This includes an interest in contestations of statehood by social movements and their alternative visions of the state.

Possible topics could include:

- the role of different forms of government such as monarchy, republic, and dictatorship, as well as the influence of political ideologies such as liberalism, conservatism, socialism, anarchism and fascism in the organisation of state structures and institutions
- the tensions between different concepts of territorial organisation such as centralism, federalism and regionalism, as well as the role of nationalism and regionalism in state building processes
- the interweaving of ideas of modern statehood with concepts of economic order
- the symbolic and local presence of the state in everyday interactions between the state and different social groups and communities
- the role of religion and the church, as well as the influence of social movements and organisations
- the effects of wars and revolutions, and of colonialism and imperialism
- the influence of the press, media, and digitalisation
- the relevance of international relations and globalisation

The workshop will be held in English from 6 to 7 March 2025 at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg in Halle (Saxony-Anhalt, Germany). We particularly encourage young researchers (PhD students and postdocs) to present their current research projects that deal with the questions mentioned above. We hope to be able to cover travel costs and accommodation.

If you would like to present your project at the workshop, please submit your proposal (abstract of no more than 500 words, along with a brief biographical note and your contact details) to anna-catharina.hofmann@geschichte.uni-halle.de by June 16, 2024. Please combine all your application documents into a single PDF.

Applicants will be notified by the end of July 2024. We will ask accepted participants to submit a preliminary paper of 8-10 pages by February 15, 2025. After the conference we plan to publish the results as a special issue in a peer-reviewed journal.

For any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the organisers at anna-catharina.hofmann@geschichte.uni-halle.de.

Organised by:
Prof. Dr. Sören Brinkmann (Wrocław)
Dr. Christin Hansen (Paderborn)
Dr. Anna Catharina Hofmann (Halle-Wittenberg)
Prof. Dr. Till Kössler (Halle-Wittenberg)
Prof. Dr. Korinna Schönhärl (Paderborn)