Book Launch and Round Table Discussion (Munich)
"A History of Modern Political Thought in East Central Europe"
28.10.2019
On Monday evening, 28 October 2019, the Graduate School in Munich will have the pleasure to host a book launch event dedicated to the second volume of "A History of Modern Political Thought in East Central Europe." The editors, Balázs Trencsényi (Budapest), Maria Falina (Dublin) and Michal Kopeček (Prag/Budapest/Jena), will present their work in a round table discussion with Tim Müller (Mannheim); chair is Kornelia Kończal (Munich). The event is organized by the German Polish Doctoral College "Poland and Germany in Modern Europe" and the Collegium Carolinum in co-operation with LMU Munich's Department for the History of Eastern and Southeastern Europe. The following day, 29 October, the book will also be presented at the Leibniz Institute for the History and Culture of Eastern Europe (GWZO) in Leipzig.
The two-volume "History of Modern Political Thought in East Central Europe" provides the first synthetic overview of its topic. Authored by an international team of researchers, it covers twenty national cultures and 250 years. By exploring transnational entanglements in the history of political thought and highlighting lesser-known thinkers, it challenges established views of this region’s past and present. It is set to challenge our preconceptions of East Central Europe.
Volume I: "Negotiating Modernity in the ‘Long Nineteenth Century’" was published in 2016. The two-part second volume followed in late 2018 and consists of Part I: Negotiating Modernity in the ‘Short Twentieth Century’ (1918-1968) and Negotiating Modernity in the ‘Short Twentieth Century’ and Beyond, Part II: 1968-2018. The book is edited by Balázs Trencsenyi, Michal Kopeček, Luka Lisjak Gabrijelčič, Maria Falina, and Mónika Baár. It provides the first synthetic overview and unique insight into the history of modern political thought in East Central Europe as well as a comparative approach and goes beyond the nation-centred studies prevalent in the field. The focus of the book launch will be on Volume II.
Martin Schulze Wessel (Munich) will open the event with an introduction. After presenting the new volume, a round table discussion will take place with Balázs Trencsényi (Budapest), Maria Falina (Dublin) and Michal Kopeček (Prag/Budapest/Jena) as the editors and Tim Müller from the Research Centre on Culture and History of Sinti and Roma in Mannheim as discussant and Kornelia Kończal (Munich) as chair. The event will be in English language.
The lecture is part of the Graduate School's lecture series "Forum" and is open to the public upon earlier registration by 21 October by email to osteuropastudien[@ ]lrz.uni-muenchen.de.
The second book launch event is organized by the Leibniz ScienceCampus “Eastern Europe – Global Area” (EEGA) and the Leibniz Institute for the History and Culture of Eastern Europe (GWZO) and will take place at the GWZO (Specks Hof - Entrance A, Reichsstr. 4-6, 04109 Leipzig) on 29 October 2019. The introduction will be given by Frank Hadler (GWZO). The round table will be chaired by Friedrich Cain (Max Weber Center for Advanced Cultural and Social Studies, University of Erfurt); discussant will be Joachim von Puttkamer (Imre Kertész Kolleg Jena).
Balázs Trencsényi is Professor and Head of the Department of History at Central European University in Budapest. His research focuses on the modern and early modern intellectual history of Central and Southeast European. Other recent publications include The Politics of National Character: A Study in Interwar East European Thought (Oxford: Routledge, 2012).
Michal Kopeček is head of the Department of Ideas and Concepts at the Institute for Contemporary History in Prague and co-director of the Imre Kertész Kolleg in Jena. His research centres on history of political thought, communism and postcommunism in East Central Europe. Other recent publications include Thinking Through Transition: Liberal Democracy, Authoritarian Pasts, and Intellectual History in East Central Europe After 1989 (co-edited with Piotr Wciślik, Budapest/New York: CEU Press, 2015).
Maria Falina is Lecturer in History at Dublin City University. Her research focuses on intellectual history, nationalism and the history of religion and politics in South-Eastern Europe. Her new book Religion and Politics in Interwar Yugoslavia: Serbian Nationalism and East Orthodox Christianity is forthcoming with IB Tauris.
Forum of the Graduate School for East and Southeast European Studies
Where: Munich, Graduate School, Maria-Theresia-Straße 21, Library
When: Monday, 28.10.2019, 5:30-7:30 p.m.
Cooperation: German Polish Doctoral College "Poland and Germany in Modern Europe", Collegium Carolinum – Research Institute for the History of the Czech Lands and Slovakia, Department of History of Eastern Europe and Southeastern Europe of LMU Munich