Research Area B The Nation State and Beyond (B17)

Project Leader: Roland Wenzlhuemer

During the last years historical research on global interactions traced globalization processes back to the beginning of the 19th century. Emphasizing transregional entanglements, the transfer of commodities, ideas, social or cultural practices over long geographical distances and across cultural and political boundaries, this approach, however, challenged historical master narratives on the 19th century, which interpret the rise of the nation state, national rivalry and imperialism as the main driving forces for the construction of a global order mainly based on the Western concept of national entities. The aim of the conference was first to explore the peculiarities of global flows in fields such as information, technology, trade, social policy or health. Second, the conference examined international rules, norms and institutions state and non-state actors designed from the middle of the 19th century onwards to regulate cooperation and interaction between different states and world regions. Finally, the conference looked at the double role the nation state played as main actor and subject of these newly drafted transnational and international regulations all at the same time.