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SUMMARY:Imperial Power Structure as a World Historical Approach to Empires
  and Imperial Systems - Ashley Hurst\, University of Vienna
DTSTART:20120517T133000Z
DTEND:20120517T150000Z
UID:TALK38102@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Derek L. Elliott
DESCRIPTION:The concept of empire was a rather belated addition to themes 
 of world and global history study\, due in part to fear of meta-comparativ
 e analysis\, as well as the inherrent political nature of those entities. 
 Most standard historical narratives on empires do not investigate the unde
 rlying conditions of actually being or having an empire\, thereby nullyfyi
 ng possible avenues for comparison\, especially across different modes of 
 empire. This paper will establish a world historcal approach\, then will e
 mploy the historical sociology of ‘power’ to both identify the ‘Impe
 rial Power Structure’ and their inherrent spatial dynamics\, specificall
 y the effect of both nationalism and nation-state ideological frameworks u
 pon them. The objective is to uncover the true health of historical empire
 s as not only a partial result of\, but also in spite of\, international c
 onditions. The Habsburg and Russian empires of the nineteenth century have
  been chosen as the initial units for comparison\, as traditional dynastic
  organisational entities that were empires struggling to come to terms wit
 h ‘modernised’ nation-states that had empires. This endeavour is not s
 earching for historical laws\; rather another perspective for consideratio
 n when trying to better understand historical empires\, non-formal imperia
 l entities\, or systems that appear imperial\; including in the contempora
 ry environment that increasingly seeks to understand the issues of spatial
 ity and identity\, as well as the shifting political and economic sands th
 at have come to characterise the globalised world.
LOCATION:Ramsden Room\, St Catharine's College
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