Historical research has in recent years begun to study the transformation and reshaping of political representation across the 20th century in context of the establishment and development of international organisations and European integration. The political history of various groups of political representatives interacting at the international and European levels has so far been fairly well researched. By contrast, the social, cultural and transnational history of actors such as diplomats, civil servants and politicians – historically seen as the classical state representatives – is still in its infancy.
The conference aim is, firstly, to bring together doctoral students exploring the social, cultural and transnational histories of core actors and groups in political representation in the context of international organisations and European integration across the 20th century. These are in particular:
- diplomats who took part in reshaping the institution of diplomacy in connection with the establishment and working of international organisations and European integration;
- civil servants employed either by international or European organisations, or employed nationally but serving expert roles in the transnational committee and working group structures that were created;
- politicians of various kinds, for instance, those who formed transnational networks of political parties in and around international and European organisations, the parliamentarians with dual mandates in national chambers and international/European parliamentary assemblies, or mayors and local counselors who engaged themselves with international organisations or European institutions.
A wide range of approaches can help to fill the lacuna of research such as prosopographical social profiling, transnational network formations, biographical studies, as well as studies on organisational changes relating to such changing forms of political representation, and on the social and cultural life that also became associated with political representation in the context of international organisations and European integration processes.
The conference aim is, secondly, to facilitate discussion between doctoral students and senior researchers about new findings as well as strategies in research design and methodologies, theoretical and conceptual questions relating to the historical study of change in political representation, and on (inter-)disciplinary inspiration.
Applications from interested doctoral students should be sent to Marianne Hoffmeister at mho@adm.au.dk and include the following:
1) a paper proposal of maximum 600 words including a specification on how this fits into your overall doctoral project and
2) a declaration from your principal supervisor stating the relevance of the conference for your project
The deadline for submission of paper proposals is 8 October 2012. Successful applicants will be informed by 25 October 2012 and will be expected to deliver their final papers (up to 25 pages) by 14 December 2012 to Marianne Hoffmeister (mho@adm.au.dk).
The organisers will cover the costs of two nights of accommodation and meals at the conference facility of Aarhus University, which is located at the beautiful estate of Sandbjerg Gods (www.sandbjerg.dk). The workshop participants will have to cover the costs for transportation themselves, but the organisers will to the extent possible assist with transportation to and from the airports of Tirstrup (AAR), Billund (BLL) and Sønderborg (SGD) (transfers from Copenhagen (CPH) only), and the train station of Sønderborg.
The conference is jointly organised by the research project ”Institutions of Democracy in Transition. Transnational Fields in Politics, Administration and Law in Denmark and Western Europe after 1945”, the Ph.D.-programme for History, Archaeology and Antique Studies, and the Research Programme for Modern Europe: Power, Representation and Political Culture, all located at the Faculty of Arts, Aarhus University. In addition, the Aarhus Universitets Forskningsfond co-funds the conference.
Enquiries can be made to the organisers: associate professors Ann-Christina L. Knudsen (alknudsen@hum.au.dk) and Karen Gram-Skjoldager (hiskgs@hum.au.dk), both at Aarhus University, to Kristine Midtgaard, University of Southern Denmark (kmidgaard@hist.sdu.dk), or to doctoral candidate Christian Salm (University of Portsmouth/Aarhus University) (Christian.Salm@port.ac.uk).