ERC Securing Europe, Fighting its enemies, 1815-1914

Agenda

25 - 27 September 2017
Trippenhuis, Amsterdam

Academy Colloquium: Securing the World: Global Perspectives on Security History in the Nineteenth Century

With the generous support of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, our ERC research team organises an academy colloquium to be held at the headquarters of the Royal Academy in Amsterdam from 25-27 September 2017.

In this colloquium, we aim to historicise security in the nineteenth century with a select group of invited speakers from around the world, explicitly considering the notion of security not only from a Western perspective, but also setting Middle Eastern, African and Asian histories of insecurity centre stage. The main empirical question is how the genealogy of emerging global and/or regional security vocabularies, practices and cultures from the Napoleonic era onwards should be described, analysed and mapped:

  • Who spoke authoritatively of security, who operated the securitisation processes and which groups wielded sufficient power to persuade and perform their securitising moves?
  • What new methods of security governance and risk assessment techniques were invoked, legitimised and deployed by the embracement of threats on the agenda?

We will also consider the common or differing practices and approaches across the globe on securing geographical domains such as seas, rivers and forests. And, as importantly, which voices were silenced in the wake of these ongoing processes of securitization? Which lines of in- and exclusion were drawn, and how did security in the 19th century develop into a driving force in the history both of empire and of the modern nation state?

The event will be followed by a masterclass for PhD students in the afternoon of 27 September 2017.

Click here for full programme