Balzan Seminar on the Formation, Maintenance, and Failure of States in the Muslim World before 1800

The Balzan seminar seeks to shed fresh light on the formation, maintenance, and failure of states in the various regions of the Muslim world prior to 1800 in a comparative perspective. The basic idea of the project is to examine the roles not just of material resources and obstacles, but also of traditions and values, both Islamic and non-Islamic, over time and space, and the interactions between all these elements. We may decide to delimit the themes of the project in some respects after the group has taken shape.

To advanced graduate students, postdocs, and holders of tenure-track positions working on relevant topics, we are seeking to bring together an internationally recruited group of eight to ten early-career scholars working on topics related to the formation, maintenance, and failure of states in the various regions of the Muslim world prior to 1800. We would also like to include in the group two early-career scholars working on similar topics in the non-Muslim world. These contexts could be ancient, medieval, or early modern.

The project will last for five years, and is funded by the generosity of the Balzan Foundation. In the first two years the group will meet twice on its own, and in the last three it will convene up to five conferences to which other scholars, including more senior ones, will also be invited. The first meeting will be in late June or early July of 2020 at a location yet to be determined. The project will issue in the publication of a volume the core of which will be studies written by members of the group. The regular language of the group will be English, and basic expenses of the participants (including travel and accommodation) will be funded.

Seminar conveners
Antoine Borrut (University of Maryland)
Michael Cook (Princeton University)