The return of empires? Wide regions and zones of influence in the world order of the 21st century
Lecture by Prof. Dr. Herfried Münkler (HU Berlin)
Response: Prof. Dr. Eva Hausteiner (FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg)
Claims to imperial domination seem to have been the motor of countless wars of aggression and acts of mass violence in the longue durée of human history, as seen, for example, in the expansions of the Neo-Assyrian, Roman and European colonial empires. Empires seem to turn violent again in periods of decline when their domination is challenged by geopolitical transformations. The contemporary imperial claims of Russia require an in-depth analysis of the relationship between imperial ideologies and acts of mass violence.
This challenge is addressed in the transdisciplinary lecture series Empire and Violence organised in the framework of the research project Discourses of Mass Violence in Comparative Perspective.