Empire at End: Global Transformations in the Late Cold War

Friday-Saturday, April 3-4, 2009
Mershon Center for International Security Studies
1501 Neil Ave., Columbus, OH 43201

Organizers
Ryan Irwin, Department of History
Charles Carter, Department of History
Alex Poster, Department of History
Carole Fink, Department of History

Overview
Empire at End: Global Transformations in the Late Cold War is the third conference on global history at the Mershon Center for International Security Studies. This symposium brings together junior faculty and advanced Ph.D. candidates to examine the patterns, limits, and agents of global change in late 20th century.

Panelists will consider to what extent, and for what reasons, the bipolar balance of power that characterized the Cold War was challenged, particularly from the 1970s on. By examining the interplay of new forces for change with forces resisting change, we hope to better understand the relationships between the global transformations of the late 20th century and pan-European Empire. Did these transformations mark the "End of Empire" or merely redefine empire?

Students of diplomatic, international, and transnational history, along with economists, political scientists, and specialists in globalization, are encouraged to attend Empire at End. The conference will examine themes of globalization and nationalism, as well as warfare, social protest, and political economy. Its geographical scope will be broad, focusing not only on the United States and the Soviet Union, but also Western and Eastern Europe, East and South Asia, Latin America, and Africa.

Participants
Kathleen Barr, Texas A&M University
Christopher Capozzola, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Charles Carter, The Ohio State University
Carole Fink, The Ohio State University
Ryan Irwin, The Ohio State University
Lien-Hang Nguyen, University of Kentucky
Jason Parker, Texas A&M University
Alex Poster, The Ohio State University
Robert Rakove, Mershon Center Postdoctoral Fellow
Emily Rosenberg, University of California-Irvine
Daniel Sargent, University of California-Berkeley
Sarah Snyder, Chauncey Fellow at Yale University
Dustin Walcher, Southern Oregon University
Joshua Walker, Princeton University

Schedule

Friday, April 3, 2009

8:30-9 a.m. – Coffee and Pastries

9-9:30 a.m. – Introductions and Opening Remarks

9:30-11:30 a.m. – Session 1: After Empire
Commentator: Lien-Hang Nguyen
Ryan Irwin, "Fighting the Wind: Defining Apartheid in the Postcolonial Moment"
Robert Rakove, "Nonalignment and the Diffusion of Power: Kennedy's Response to the Challenge of Decolonization"
Dustin Walcher, "Empire and Nationalism: The United States, Argentina, and the Challenge of Social Revolution, 1966-1970"

11:30-12:30 p.m. – Lunch
To reserve a lunch, please contact Ann Powers at powers.108@osu.edu

12:30-1:30 p.m. – Plenary Address
Emily Rosenberg, "Consumer Capitalism and the End of the Cold War"

1:30-2 p.m. – Break

2-4 p.m. – Session 2: Seeking New Forms of Order
Commentator: Carole Fink
Kathleen Barr, "Held Hostage: America and Its Allies Confront OPEC"
Daniel Sargent, "The United States and Globalization in the 1970s"
Charles Carter, "A Pipeline to Arms: Osthandel and the Rise of Soviet Arms Sales to the Non-Communist Third World"
Sarah Snyder, "Not From Tanks, Troops, or Barbed Wire: Human Rights Activism and the End of the Cold War"

Saturday, April 4, 2009

8:30-9 a.m. – Coffee and Pastries

9-11 a.m. – Session 3: The Aftermath
Commentator: Jason Parker
Alex Poster, "The Wayward Eagle and the Invisible Hand: Resistance and Reconstruction after the Mexico City Earthquake of 1985"
Christopher Capozzola, "Client State and Migrant State: Empire, Globalization, and the Post-Cold War Philippines"
Joshua Walker, "Shadows of Empire: Theorizing Imperial Memories in Successor States"

11 a.m.-12 p.m. – Light Lunch and Roundtable Discussion

Ryan Irwin
Ph.D. Candidate
Department of History
The Ohio State University

Charles Carter
Ph.D. Candidate
Department of History
The Ohio State University

Alex Poster
Ph.D. Candidate
Department of History
The Ohio State University

Carole Fink
Distinguished Humanities Professor
Department of History
The Ohio State University