The Spiritual Geopolitics of the Early Modern World – Call For Papers

The Spiritual Geopolitics of the Early Modern World (1500-1800)
Service Historique de la Défense, Château de Vincennes (France)
March 13, 2015

Early modern Europeans lived during an age of faith, but the role of religion in geopolitics and diplomacy remains poorly understood. Likewise, historians and social scientists often downplay the role of religious arguments, issues and protagonists in favor of purely secular ones, such as economic, commercial, dynastic or territorial motives. Was religion a genuine motive in geopolitical thinking and policy-making or was it more of a conscience-appeasing fig-leaf in the face of more worldly concerns?

In this symposium we will explore the concept of “spiritual geopolitics” in early modern Europe and its imperial extensions, from the Atlantic World to the Mediterranean and Indian Oceans, in every place where states fought or negotiated over new or existing territories. Our understanding of “geopolitics” is both literal (decision-making process dealing with specific strategically significant sites) and broad enough to include the related field of diplomacy and war.

We seek proposals on any aspect or early modern spiritual geopolitics, but especially around the following questions or issues:

  • The role of religious arguments in the decision-making process at both central and local level;
  • The place of missionaries, priests, ministers, and other religious agents in the world of diplomacy and warfare, as negotiators, spies, or advisors;
  • The role of communities of religious refugees in imperial geopolitics;
  • Confessional borderlands as fertile grounds for spiritual geopolitics, or, the geography of spiritual geopolitics;
  • The importance, and limits, or Protestant-Catholic rivalry in European and international diplomacy;
  • The links between confessional and national identities; and the role of religious “others” in cementing national or confessional bonds

Proposals, which should not exceed 500 words, should be sent by September 15, 2014 to lauric.henneton@uvsq.fr.
Papers, which will be pre-circulated, are due by Feb. 15, 2015. They may be in French or English.