For the course in which I am enrolled, Modern Europa (Modern Europe), a conference will be organised on democracy in Europe. In this conference the students will all lecture for a brief time and present some of the results of their studies.
Panels
In the first panel, The roots of democracy, all the early modern studies are placed and this group serves as a counterbalance to all the modern themes and angles. Subjects in this panel are: a comparison between Grand Pensionary Schimmelpennninck and U.S. President George Washington, petitions in the seventeenth century, the Glorious Revolution and its democratic sides and effect of Montesquieus Trisa Politica on several European state systems.
The second group, Can democray be exported?, will argue that the European democracy has a few key characteristics which can not be exported as a whole. By looking at the succesfull and failed attempts to export the European democracy they try to establish the uniqueness of it.
Totalitarianism and Democracy is mainly concerned with the question: why did some states in the first half of the twentieth century become totalitarian states and why did some remain a democracy and how did it affect the nation?
Democracy in The Netherlands 1848-1940 is concerned with the evolution from personal politics to the party system. All kinds of factors and their influence on this evolution will be studied and explained.
The last panel will deal with characteristics which are indigenous to the western culture but obstruct democracy.
Since the conference can be attended by anyone who is interested, I invite you all to come. The exact program will be uploaded later.
Adress and time
Oudemanhuispoort room F0.02
Oudemanhuispoort 4-6 1012 CN Amsterdam
From 13.00-18.00, afterwards you can stay for a drink or two.
Writing Napoleonic History 