Stanford University

Networks of European Enlightenment (Day 1)

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From Voltaire’s correspondence with Catherine the Great, to Adam Smith’s travels on the European continent, mediated and unmediated communication was the lifeline of the Enlightenment. Where historians once spoke of the Enlightenment in national terms (e.g., the “Scottish Enlightenment” vs. “German Enlightenment”), they are increasingly recognizing the ways in which the communication networks that spread across countries provided the infrastructure for thinking in a new, “European” fashion. What’s more, the recent influx of metadata from the correspondences of major Enlightenment figures now allows scholars to study these networks at both the micro and macro levels. We are therefore well poised to produce far clearer maps of how the Enlightenment spread out across Europe and beyond, to European colonies. And we can trace the return of knowledge from the periphery back to the center’s capitals.

 

This 2-day conference, convened by Dan Edelstein, will assemble some of the leading scholars who are using data-driven scholarship to study the information networks that made the Enlightenment possible, and contributed to create a new sense of European identity.

 

April 28, 1:00pm – 5:30pm

1:00pm - 3:00pm       Historical Network Theory
Ruth Ahnert & Sebastian Ahnert, “Quantitative Network Analysis and Early Modern Correspondence”
Dan Edelstein, “How to Study Networks Without ‘Edgy’ Data”
Nicole Coleman, “Fibra: A Graph-Drawing Tool for Social Network Analysis”

3:00pm - 3:30pm       Coffee break

3:30pm - 5:30pm       Paris, Capital of Enlightenment
Nicholas Cronk, “The invention of Voltaire's correspondence”
Maria Comsa, “Theatrical Networks in 18th-Century France”
Melanie Conroy & Chloe Edmondson, “French Salons in the Age of Enlightenment”

 

For further information, please visit the conference website.

 

Sponsored by The Europe Center, The Stanford Humanities Center, The French Culture Workshop, The France-Stanford Center, and The Division for Literature, Cultures, and Languages.


 

Stanford Humanities Center, Levinthal Hall

Conferences

"The Unmaking of a Continent: Europe on Edge" A Talk by Roger Cohen

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NOTE: Event registration is full. Some seats may be available in case of no shows; please arrive early.

 

For the first time since it started moving toward "ever closer union" more than a half-century ago, Europe finds itself closer to unraveling than to greater integration. The euro, conceived to cement unity and hitch Germany forever to its European partners, has sown disunity by placing economies and cultures as diverse as the Greek and the German within the same currency. Britain is to hold a referendum this year or next on leaving the European Union. Its outcome is uncertain. At Europe's eastern borders, President Putin is doing what he can to undermine the European idea and create havoc in the no-man's lands between the Union and Russia. Ukraine has paid a preposterous price in blood and treasure for seeking a trade accord with Brussels, a perceived offense to Moscow. Refugees from a war the West has fanned through indecision, and from other conflict zones, converge on the continent; Germany alone took in 1.1 million in 2015. Parisians die in a hale of bullets. Brussels shuts down. Everywhere, instability and anxiety favor nationalist movements.

The miracle of a Europe whole and free is increasingly taken for granted. As miracles go, it's just so 20th-century. America, to a significant degree, has disengaged -- Europe is an old story by now. Is the greatest peace-generating mechanism of recent decades on the verge of coming apart?

 

Roger Cohen has worked for The New York Times for 25 years as a foreign correspondent, foreign editor, and now columnist. Prior to that he worked for The Wall Street Journal and Reuters. He is the author of four books. The latest, a family memoir entitled The Girl from Human Street: Ghosts of Memory in a Jewish Family, was published to wide acclaim by Alfred A. Knopf in January, 2015. He has taught at Harvard and Princeton and his work has been recognized with several awards, including a Lifetime Achievement Award from Britain’s Next Century Foundation and a prize from the Overseas Press Club of New York. Raised in South Africa and England, a graduate of Balliol College, Oxford, he is a naturalized American.

Roger Cohen Columnist Speaker The International New York Times
Seminars
European Security Initiative
European Security Initiative Lecture Series

Seminar with Monica Martinez-Bravo

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Monica Martinez-Bravo is an associate professor at CEMFI in Madrid, Spain. She received her Ph.D. in economics from MIT in 2010. Her research interests are in the fields of Political Economy and Economic Development.

 

This seminar is part of the Comparative Politics Workshop in the Department of Political Science and is co-sponsored by The Europe Center.

Encina Hall West, Room 400 (Graham Stuart Lounge)

Monica Martinez-Bravo Associate Professor Speaker CEMFI
Lectures

"The Legacy of War on Fiscal Capacity" with Didac Queralt

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States make war, and wars make states. The second clause of Tilly's dictum assumes that the fiscal effort that states exert to wage war persists over time. This paper investigates the effect of war on long-term fiscal capacity as a function of two types of war financing instruments: taxes and loans. Tax-waged wars are argued to exert lasting effects on state capacity, as new taxes require enhancements of the state apparatus as well as complementary fiscal innovations. Loan-waged wars may not contribute to long-term state capacity, as countries might default once the war is over, thus preempting any persistent fiscal effect. Importantly, the way war is waged might be endogenous. To cope with this possibility, I exploit unanticipated crashes in the nineteenth-century international capital markets, which temporarily banned warring states from borrowing regardless of their (un)observed characteristics. The analysis shows that countries that fought wars while the international credit markets were down have today higher fiscal capacity, measured by income tax ratios as well as the size of the tax administration. Altogether, the paper advances the conditions under which wars exert positive and lasting effects on state building.

 

Didac Queralt is a junior professor at the Institute of Political Economy and Governance (IPEG) in Barcelona. He received his Ph.D. from the NYU Politics Department in September 2012.

His research lies at the intersection of comparative political economy and international relations, with a focus on the political economy of fiscal capacity building in Europe (East and West) and the Americas. Using formal methods, he investigates tax compliance in scenarios of low fiscal capacity, as well as the replacement of old forms of taxation (e.g. trade taxes) by modern extractive technologies (e.g. income taxation) that result from deliberate investment in the tax administration. He analyzes the theoretical predictions using contemporary data from developing economies in Latin America and Eastern Europe, as well as historical data for European powers in the pre-modern era.

In addition, he investigates the origins of direct taxation in the Western World, both with macro- and micro-data, as well as the electoral politics underlying the expansion of the fiscal state. Currently, he is involved in a quasi-experimental test of the legacy of pre-modern wars on state capacity, and an field experiment on tax progressivity in Colombia,

 

This seminar is part of the Comparative Politics Workshop in the Department of Political Science and is co-sponsored by The Europe Center.

Encina Hall West, Room 400 (Graham Stuart Lounge)

Didac Queralt Junior Professor Speaker Institute of Political Economy and Governance (IPEG), Barcelona
Seminars

Herlinde Pauer-Studer

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Distinguished Austrian Chair Professor (2015-2016)
Visiting Professor, Department of Philosophy
Professor of Philosophy, University of Vienna, Austria
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Herlinde Pauer-Studer is professor of philosophy at the University of Vienna and a 2015-2016 Distinguished Visiting Austrian Chair Professor at Stanford. Her research interests are in ethics, political philosophy, and legal philosophy.   She has been a Fellow at the J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University (1997/98) and a Fulbright Scholar at NYU (Fall 2006). From 2010 to 2015 she held an ERC Advanced Research Grant on the topic of “Distortions of Normativity”.

At Stanford she will teach a course on the connections between legal philosophy and philosophy of action. During her time at Stanford University she will also work on a book about the normative distortions in the National Socialist legal system, focusing on the period 1933-1939. 

Recent publications on this topic are a co-edited collection of original texts by National Socialist legal theorists that appeared 2014 under the title “Rechtfertigungen des Unrechts. Das Rechtsdenken im Nationalsozialismus” with Suhrkamp and a co-authored book with J. David Velleman, The Conscience of a Nazi Judge. The Case of SS-Judge Konrad Morgen (Palgrave Macmillan 2015).

The Europe Center November 2015 Newsletter

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Special Event: The European Security Initiative

Upcoming talk by Supreme Allied Commander Europe, General Philip M. Breedlove.

"Europe at the Crossroads"
Date: November 9, 2015 
Time: 12:00PM to 1:30PM 
Location: Koret Taube Conference Center, Room 130 
RSVP by 5:00PM November 5, 2015.

Photo of General Philip M. Breedlove
General Philip M. Breedlove is a four-star general in the United States Air Force and the current Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR). In this position, General Breedlove is one of NATO's two strategic commanders and is the head of Allied Command Operations (ACO). General Breedlove became the Supreme Allied Commander, Europe on 13 May 2013. During his visit to Stanford, General Breedlove will discuss Europe's rapidly-evolving geopolitical climate and highlight many of the security challenges for which the United States and NATO must prepare.

General Breedlove has served in the United States Air Force since graduating from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1977. Immediately prior to assuming his current position, General Breedlove served as Commander, U.S. Air Forces in Europe; Commander, U.S. Air Forces Africa; Commander Headquarters Allied Air Command, Ramstein; and Director, Joint Air Power Competence Centre, Kalkar Germany. We invite you to visit ourwebsite for additional information about this event.

Featured Faculty Research: Jens Hainmueller

We would like to introduce you to some of the faculty members that we support and the projects on which they are working. Our featured faculty member this month is Jens Hainmueller, who is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science.

Jens Hainmueller

Jens earned his Ph.D. in Government from Harvard University in 2009 and joined the faculty at Stanford University in 2014. His research interests include statistical methods, immigration, political economy, and political behavior. An example of Jens's research on immigration and migrant integration is his recent co-authored work with Dominik Hangertner at the London School of Economics and Giuseppe Pietrantuono at the University of Zurich, which examined the effect of naturalization on migrant political integration into the host society. Establishing the effects of naturalization on political integration is complicated by an unobservable selection process; a non-random sample of migrants chooses to apply for naturalization and a non-random sample of naturalization applicants is approved. As a result, previous work has neither been able to establish the direction of the relationship between naturalization and poitical integration nor isolate the effect of naturalization on political integration vis-à-vis alternatives. In order to limit the bias induced by this dual-selection process, Jens and his coauthors analyzed data from Switzerland, where some municipalities used referendums to make decisions on naturalization applications. By limiting the sample to those applications that were approved or rejected by only a few votes, the authors were able to establish treatment and control groups that were otherwise equivalent, thereby removing selection bias from their data. Using this unbiased sample, Jens and his coauthors found that naturalization indeed has a positive effect on migrant political integration by increasing political participation, political knowledge, and political efficacy, among others. This research was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. We invite you to visit our website for additional information about this research.

Publication Details: Hainmueller, Jens, Dominik Hangartner, and Guiseppe Pietrantuono. 2015. "Naturalization Fosters the Long-Term Political Integration of Immigrants." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 112(41):12,651-12,656.

Featured Graduate Student Research: Jason Weinreb

We would like to introduce you to some of the students that we support and the projects on which they are working. Our featured student this month is Jason Weinreb (Political Science). Jason is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Political Science at Stanford University.

Jason WeinrebJason is a political economist who is interested in political risk, the politics of public finance, and economic history. His dissertation examines how newly-independent states finance themselves, focusing on former British colonies. Analysis of the London Stock Exchange in the quarter century following World War II reveals a surprising trend: colonial debt bond prices remained remarkably stable throughout decolonization. In his research at the British National Archives in London, funded in part by The Europe Center, Jason found that price stability was an insufficient indicator of investor confidence. Far from reflecting investors unperturbed by the uncertainty of decolonization, Jason's research uncovers evidence that investors were indeed concerned about the effects of independence on their investment. In fact, investor concerns manifested in higher interest rates, fewer colonial debt bond issues, and lower subscription rates relative to earlier periods. His archival research further uncovers factors that explain why colonial debt bond prices fail to reflect investor sentiment. Chief among these was the British government's intervention in the market. Its strategic purchase and holding of colonial debt bonds ensured price stability despite investor concerns.

Featured Event: Taking the Stand - A Film Presentation and Q&A with Survivors of the Holocaust

Firestone, Liska, and RammerstorferPictured: Renée Firestone, Hermine Liska, and Bernhard Rammerstorfer
By: Christof Brandtner and Sebastian Schuster 

This year we commemorate the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. At the same time, the number of people who can give us a personal account of the cruelties of the Holocaust is dwindling. Together with students from the Stanford Austria Club, The Europe Center hosted two survivors of the Holocaust and witnesses of the Nazi era: Renée Firestone (born in 1924 in today's Ukraine) and Hermine Liska (born 1930 in Austria). Firestone and Liska were introduced by TEC affiliated faculty Prof. Amir Eshel, interviewed by Austrian documentarian Bernhard Rammerstorfer, and answered engaging questions from students and community members in the audience. In their accounts, Firestone and Liska reported on the years leading up to their persecution, highlighted the importance of religion and family for their survival, and pointed out connections between the diaspora of the 1930s and 1940s and the current global refugee crisis. Rammerstorfer also presented his newest film and book project ‘Taking the stand: We have more to say’ which condenses the experience and memories of nine Holocaust survivors in response to 100 questions from high school students around the world.

Recap: Former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen Visits Stanford

Anders Fogh RasmussenIn his recent visit to Stanford University, former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen painted a bleak picture of global politics. The hope of the Arab Spring has been replaced by new authoritarian regimes, civil war, and ISIS. Russia is becoming more internally authoritarian and externally aggressive. According to one measure, global levels of freedom have been in decline for the past nine consecutive years. "It looks", he said, "as if a Pandora's box of religious, ethnic, and political strife has been opened, and many nations have plunged into chaos and extremism." According to Rasmussen, successfully navigating these global challenges requires a concerted effort among liberal democratic states, spearheaded by American leadership. In order to create a strong global community of liberal democracies, he advocated strengthening the Transatlantic alliance. In addition to the existing military alliance forged through NATO, he proposed the creation of a Transatlantic Free Trade Area (TAFTA) and a Transatlantic peoples program, which would foster educational, scientific, and cultural exchanges among the partner states. More than 150 people attended the talk, which was held on September 25. To watch Rasmussen's talk in full, please visit our website.

Fall 2015 Graduate Student Grant Competition Winners Announced

Please join us in congratulating the winners of The Europe Center Fall 2015 Graduate Student Grant Competition: 

  • Elena Dancu, Comparative Literature, "From Vienna to Rio de Janeiro: Stefan Zweig and a World in Ruins."
  • Mathilde Emeriau, Political Science, "Discrimination and Integration of Asylum Seekers in France."
  • William Parmer, Philosophy, "The Art of Cruelty."
  • Rebecca Perlman, Political Science, "The Politics of Protection: Health and Safety Regulation in a Globalized Marketplace."
  • Nicola Pierri, Economics, "Credit Constraints and Firms' Productivity: Evidence from the Italian Economy."
  • Jens Pohlmann, German Studies, "Capitalizing on the Avant-Garde? An Analysis of Adversarial Authors’ Marketing Strategies in the Second Half of the 20th Century."
  • Beata Szymkow, History, "Nationalisms Interacting, L'viv 1890-1914."
  • Alice Underwood, Comparative Literature, "The Comrade's Deviant Body: Myth, Citizenship, and Socialist Decay in the Pre-Perestroika Soviet Union."
  • Ashley Walters, History, "The Evolution of a Modern Jewish Legal Defense Against Anti-Semitism in Late Imperial Russia ."
  • Jason Weinreb, Political Science, "Decolonization's Money Doctor: The Bank of England and Commonwealth Central Banks, 1955 - 1970."
  • Seth Werfel, Political Science, "Representation as Intermediation."
  • Duygu Yildirim, History, "Historicizing Nature: Approaches to The Natural History of Crete in the Eastern Mediterranean."
Please visit our website for more information about our Graduate Student Grant program.

The Europe Center Sponsored Events

November 5, 2015 
6:30PM - 9:30PM 
Romanian Film Festival (Stanford, Day 1) 
"Travelling Shorts:Families Beyond Boundaries" 
East Asia Library, Room 224, Lathrop Library Building 
Please visit our website for additional information.

November 8, 2015 
1:00PM - 8:45PM 
Romanian Film Festival (Stanford, Day 2) 
"Travelling Shorts:Families Beyond Boundaries" 
Cubberley Auditorium 
Please visit our website for additional information.

November 9, 2015 
12:00PM - 1:15PM Mart Kuldkepp, Scandinavian Studies, University College London 
"Russian deserters to Sweden in World War I" 
Reuben Hills Conference Room, Encina Hall East 
Open to Stanford affiliates only. 
RSVP requested
This seminar is organized by the Center for Russian, Eastern European and Eurasian Studies and co-sponsored by The Europe Center.

European Security Initiative Events

November 9, 2015 
12:00PM - 1:30PM 
General Philip M. Breedlove, Supreme Allied Commander Europe and Commander, US European Command, NATO 
"Europe at the Crossroads" 
Koret-Taube Conference Center, Room 130, Gunn-SIERP Building 
RSVP by 5:00PM November 5, 2015. 

November 10, 2015 
5:30PM - 7:00PM 
Lilia Shevtsova, Non-Resident Fellow, Brookings Institution and Associate Fellow Russia-Eurasia Program, Chatham House - The Royal Institute of International Affairs 
"Russia as a Global Challenge" 
Bechtel Conference Center, Encina Hall 
RSVP requested 

Save the Date: January 5, 2016 
Sergei Guriev, Professor of Economics, New Economic School, Moscow and Visiting Professor of Economics, Sciences Po, Paris 

Other Campus Events of Interest

November 16, 2015 
6:30PM - 8:15PM 
"In the Crosswinds" (2014) Film Screening 
Cubberley Auditorium, Cubberley Education Library 
RSVP requested 
For more information, please visit the event website.

We welcome you to visit our website for additional details.

 

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Heritage Bureaucracies: Theoretical and Practical Perspectives (Day 1)

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heritage bureaucracies

This conference aims to further our understanding of the institutional cultures, funding schemes and power structures underlying transnational institutions, with a particular focus on heritage bureaucracies. We bring together scholars working at the intersection of archaeology, anthropology, sociology and law to offer a broader understanding of the intricacies of multilateral institutions and global civic society in shaping contemporary heritage governance. Speakers will provide ethnographic perspectives on the study of international organizations, such as the UN and EU, in an effort to show the entanglement of political and technical decision-making.

A 2-day international conference organized by Claudia Liuzza and Gertjan Plets.

Speakers:

Brigitta Hauser-Shäublin (Institute of Ethnology, Göttingen University)
Ellen Hertz (Institute of Ethnology, University of Neuchâtel)
Miyako Inoue (Department of Anthropology, Stanford University)
Claudia Liuzza (Department of Anthropology, Stanford University)
Brigit Müller (Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris)
Elisabeth Niklason (Department of Archeaology, Stockholm University)
Gertjan Plets (Stanford Archaeology Center, Stanford University)
Cris Shore (Department of Anthropology, The University of Auckland)
Ana Vrdoljak (Department of Law, University of Technology, Sydney)

Co-sponsored by Stanford Archaeology Center, Cantor Arts Center, Department of Anthropology, Center for Russian, East European & Eurasian Studies, Stanford Humanities Center, The Europe Center, France-Stanford Center for Interdisciplinary Studies, The Mediterranean Studies Forum.

Contact: heritagebur@gmail.com

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Stanford Archaeology Center (BLDG 500)
488 Escondido Mall
Stanford University

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