VOLUME 5 : E M P I R E [S]

now published

Until a few year ago the term “empire” was being used to describe systems of political power that were considered to belong to bygone historical eras whether these were the empires of Antiquity and the Middle Ages or forms of colonial exploitation and control. The reappearance of the term “empire” in the last years with the view to describe contemporary forms of global order and of structures of power makes evident the reassessment of the historicity of the term and the investigation of its changing notions. With these objectives in mind the 5th volume of Historein addresses the question of empire(s).

Robert Young in his article examined the post-colonial condition and the ways in which the former colonies sought to become an independent political agent in the 1950s and the 1960s. Margarita Miliori investigates the ideological formation of the British Empire and the role that the Roman imperial legacy played as the paradigm of empire. Athena Athanasiou discusses the possibilities of feminist politics and activism in an era that the local and the global are intertwined. Rebecca Karl analyses the variations of the term “Asiatic mode of production” and their relations to the Chinese history and historiography. Demetrios Stamatopoulos in his article proposes an analysis of the Ottoman Empire from the viewpoint of the “power networks”. Ada Dialla addresses the relation between empire and nation in the discussions of Russian intellectuals of the late 19th century. Lluis Roura Aulinas examines the role of the imperial past in the formation of Spanish history and historiography. Konstantinos Raptis presents an overview of the discussion about the causes of the collapse of the Habsburg empire.

The current 5th volume of Historein aims at contributing and enriching the ongoing debate around the term “empire”. It seeks, also, to connect the academic discourse with the understanding of the current situation and the historiographical interests with the contemporary intellectual trends.