Project description
Understanding how defunct international organisations shaped European governance
Our understanding of the legacy of international organisations (IOs) and the subsequent impact of individuals, ideas, practices, and objects after the dissolution of these organisations is limited. To address this gap, the ERC-funded InechO project aims to examine the ‘afterlives’ of European IOs since the 1910s. The project will use often overlooked public and private sources, as well as interviews, to establish a new conceptual framework that enhances research on reimagining the nature of international cooperation and governance. InechO will investigate five case studies to test the hypothesis that comprehending the legacy and influence of liquidated IOs is essential, as new initiatives often echo the work of previous organisations.
Objective
What happens after international organizations (IOs) cease to exist? While IOs’ ends are occasionally discussed in political science and legal studies, we know very little about the legacy of IOs, and hence the subsequent role and impact of people, ideas, practices and objects (including buildings and budg-ets) that once filled such organizations with life and meaning. InechO hypothesizes that for a full un-derstanding of international history and questions of political governance more broadly, it is indispen-sable to consider the legacy and impact of liquidated IOs. New beginnings frequently echo the work of earlier IOs, even if existing interpretations and narratives ignore or downplay such links. Using largely neglected public and private sources as well as interviews, InechO will break new ground for interna-tional and European history by focusing on the “afterlives” of European International Organizations since the 1910s. It highlights five empirical case-studies representing the whole spectrum of possible options. Informed by and contributing to an interdisciplinary state of the art, InechO builds on an in-novative set of concepts and methods to address these issues. InechO will thus establish a new con-ceptual framework that will help research to rethink the nature of international cooperation and interna-tionalism. Its approach and its findings are also highly relevant for the analysis of other world regions and their international history and for audiences beyond academia.
Fields of science
Keywords
Programme(s)
- HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme
Topic(s)
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC GrantsHost institution
80539 Muenchen
Germany