Politics has changed a lot, in the last half-century, and so has political history. The boundaries of the political have been redrawn. The large social and political bodies of the mid-twentieth century have grown weaker or have dissolved. Public institutions have become both less insulated from society and less effective in controlling and guiding it. Hence defining what is political has become more difficult. Political historians have confronted this challenge, and in the process have gained a deeper understanding of their object of study, have enlarged their scope and refined their methodologies, and have entered into closer dialogue with the „other“ histories and the social sciences.

Politics does not exist only „high up“ and on the macro level, but reaches deep into private lives, shapes people’s identities and perceptions, interferes with their thoughts and emotions, regulates and modifies their behaviour. Actions and reactions performed on the micro level can in turn not only determine how initiatives from the top are received, reinterpreted and remoulded, but also condition, constrain and change the institutions and subjects that act on the macro level. The conference presents a program that considers, in a historical perspective, examples of how the multiple layers of the political have connected and interacted with each other during the last three centuries.

For its 2020–2021 conference (14–25 June 2021), the Association for Political History (URL: <www.associationforpoliticalhistory.org>) in collaboration with the Luiss School of Government (URL: <https://sog.luiss.it>) presents a program that considers, in a historical perspective, examples of how the multiple layers of the political have connected and interacted with each other during the last three centuries.

Despite the difficulties of organizing events and travels related to the COVID-19 pandemic, over the past few months dozens of submissions have encouraged us to keep this commitment and move the event online. As a result, we can now present a conference with more than 70 scholars from 19 countries around the world, senior as well as young researchers and PhD candidates.

We have devised a format that runs in 16 sessions from June 14–25, 2021. This includes an opening roundtable on „Layers and Connections of the Political“, nine thematic panels to be held in the morning sessions, three forums to discuss individual papers on current research presented by young scholars, a speed-date session dedicated to brief discussions (5 minutes) between PhD candidates and senior researchers, a final key note speech by Prof. Vladislav Zubok on his latest book „Collapse“ (forthcoming in October 2021 with Yale UP).

In this online format, we are constrained to tight timelines and we recommend limiting presentations to 10 minutes maximum so that we can devote time to discussion. Unfortunately, we cannot be together for coffee, but we still want to encourage the creation of a space for the exchange of ideas, interconnections and networking. For this, virtual classrooms will be open for those who want to virtually meet and discuss their research in closed sessions.

We welcome senior researchers, but also encourage PhD candidates and young scholars to participate in our conference and debates. Participation is free of charge, but please register on our homepage.

To discuss your research project at the speed date session, please send an email to: aph2020@luiss.it by June 18, 2021.

For any further info please contact aph2020@luiss.it

APH 2020-2021 Organizing committee: Giovanni Orsina (Luiss Guido Carli), Henk te Velde (Leiden University), Margit van der Steen (Huygens Institute for Dutch History), Gaia Di Martino (Luiss Guido Carli), Riccardo Mario Cucciolla (Università degli Studi di Napoli L'Orientale)