Periodic Reporting for period 1 - POST-EMPIRE (The Political Culture of Post-imperial Intervention. The case of Spain and the South American republics of the Pacific (1833-1868).)
Reporting period: 2024-09-16 to 2026-09-15
Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project
ChatGPT dijo:
Context, Motivation, and Pathway to Impact
Setting the scene: why a project on post-imperial intervention now?
Across Europe and beyond, foreign and security policy are increasingly shaped by the afterlives of empire. From Eastern Europe to the South Caucasus, from North Africa to the Pacific, crises escalate in theatres where a former imperial power still claims symbolic authority, strategic access, or historical rights. Yet the EU’s external action and Strategic Compass have only recently begun to integrate the historically specific dynamics of post-imperial conflicts—those in which a former metropole seeks to influence, discipline, or re-enter spaces once under its control. Understanding these conflicts requires more than conventional threat assessments; it demands a historical political sociology of strategic culture, attentive to ideas, memories, and geopolitical imaginaries that connect past imperial orders to present-day decision-making.
POST-EMPIRE responds to this need through a focused historical case that speaks to a wider pattern: Spain’s interventions, pressures, and diplomatic projects in the South American Pacific—Chile, Peru, and Ecuador—during the Isabeline era (1833–1868). In this period, Spanish authorities, naval officers, consular networks, private actors, and intellectuals experimented with strategies to (re)build influence without territorial reconquest. The result was a repertoire we can recognise today as informal or post-imperial imperialism: a blend of commercial nationalism, naval presence, prestige politics, humanitarian discourses, and ideological appeals to a shared “civilisation” or “Hispanic family.” These strategies culminated in the 1866 bombardments of Valparaíso and Callao—events that, although short of total war, reveal how post-imperial ambition can spiral into coercive escalation.
By reconstructing the political culture that made such actions thinkable, legitimate, and strategically “rational” for Spanish elites, POST-EMPIRE provides a historically grounded, conceptually precise lens for analysing other theatres where the legacies of empire continue to structure conflict and cooperation. The project thus “sets the scene” for an EU-relevant story: how ideas, identities, and strategic habits born in empire persist, and how they can be addressed by policy, diplomacy, and norm-building today.
The problem and the gap in knowledge
Three interlocking gaps motivated the project:
Historiographical gap. While the “imperial turn” transformed historical studies of empire, comparatively little work has examined post-imperial interventionism as a distinct phenomenon with its own ideological and strategic logics. Nineteenth-century Spain in the Pacific is especially under-studied, typically treated either as a prelude to 1898 or as episodic diplomacy, rather than as a coherent grand strategy of re-imperialization.
Conceptual gap between History, Political Theory, and IR. Scholarship often treats strategic culture, ideology, and geopolitics in isolation. POST-EMPIRE integrates historical method (archival reconstruction), political theory (analysis of concepts such as civilisation, honour, order, peace, humanity), and constructivist IR (imaginaries, norms, and narratives) to show how elites make interventionism intelligible and legitimate.
Policy gap. EU strategic documents reference history and values but seldom draw on comparative historical models of how post-imperial conflicts escalate, how identity-narratives operate, and how informal instruments (consular networks, private actors, commercial lawfare, naval presence) interact with formal diplomacy. POST-EMPIRE translates historical memory into decision-support for early warning, conflict prevention, and strategic communication.
Overall objectives
The project pursued five mutually reinforcing objectives:
Reconstruct the geopolitical imaginaries and interests underpinning Spanish post-imperial interventionism in Chile, Peru, and Ecuador (1833–1868), with special attention to pan-Hispanism, free-trade imperialism, (anti)republicanism, navalism, honour and prestige, humanitarianism, and “civilisation.”
Map emulation and competition with Britain, France, and the United States to explain how Spanish strategic culture adapted and differentiated itself within a crowded imperial field.
Build an interdisciplinary framework—bridging History, Political Theory, and International Relations—to compare post-imperial conflicts across time and space, generating portable concepts (e.g. ideology clusters, re-imperialization pathways, prestige-security dilemmas).
Create open, reusable research assets: curated archival/bibliographic corpora, FAIR data catalogues, and digital-humanities platforms to enable replication and comparative extension.
Translate scholarship into impact for policy, education, and public debate: targeted dissemination, an international research network, Open Access publications (including an OA monograph under contract), and innovative outreach (podcast series; a serious-games card deck) that turn complex theory into accessible tools.
Closely linked to these project-level aims were career-development objectives achieved during the Action: securing a permanent academic trajectory in Europe while consolidating bi-regional (EU–LATAM) collaboration; building a multi-institutional network; gaining advanced training in global history, political theory of empire, and IR constructivism; and leading teams, events, and PhD supervision to anchor a sustainable research program.
Concept and approach: from archives to theory to impact
Case logic and comparative leverage
The South American Pacific in 1833–1868 offers ideal analytical leverage. Spain confronted newly independent republics that were culturally proximate yet politically autonomous; British and French economic-naval power constrained Spanish options; the United States’ hemispheric ambitions grew; and trans-Pacific connections (via the Philippines) animated strategic thought. This environment made indirect instruments—consulates, private commercial networks, naval stations, press campaigns, humanitarian rhetoric—especially salient. By reconstructing how these instruments were imagined, legitimated, and deployed, POST-EMPIRE identifies a post-imperial repertoire that travels across cases.
Interdisciplinary engine (SSH integration)
The project is rooted in Social Sciences and Humanities integration:
History provides the evidentiary backbone: multi-archive research in Spain, the UK, Germany, Chile, Peru, and Ecuador; press repositories across Europe and the Americas; and institutional collections (e.g. Ibero-Amerikanisches Institut, CSIC libraries).
Political Theory supplies conceptual precision: analysis of key political concepts—civilisation, honour, order, peace, sovereignty, humanity—showing how they shifted valences (often along gendered lines) and structured justification for intervention.
International Relations (constructivism) connects ideas to strategy: how imaginaries and normative claims shape policy choices, how prestige interacts with security, and how emulation/competition with other powers produces path dependence in strategic culture.
The result is an analytical model for post-imperial conflicts that can be applied comparatively (e.g. Spain–Americas; Russia–Ukraine), enabling dialogue with EU policy communities that require historically nuanced but actionable insights.
Methods, materials, and Open Science
Methodologically, the project combined qualitative archival reconstruction with conceptual analysis and source curation as a public good. It produced FAIR digital assets (catalogues of documents, press items, bibliographies) deposited in DIGITAL.CSIC/EOSC and disseminated via dedicated websites. This open infrastructure allows other teams to reproduce findings, test alternative hypotheses, and extend the comparative frame. The commitment to Open Access (journal articles, data catalogues, and an OA book contract with Routledge for 2026) ensures visibility and long-term reuse.
Gender and the politics of intervention
The research foregrounded the gendered construction of key geopolitical concepts. Competing discourses masculinised and feminised ideas such as honour, order, peace, and humanitarianism to authorise specific courses of action—conciliation vs. coercion, paternal “protection” vs. punitive prestige. Tracing these shifting gender imaginaries clarifies how moral vocabularies legitimate force, an insight with direct relevance for contemporary strategic communication and norm entrepreneurship.
Key results to date (research and career)
Even with the fellowship concluding after 12 months (authorised early closure), the project delivered or surpassed most objectives:
Publications and scholarly outputs. Peer-reviewed articles accepted/published in Q1/Q2 venues; a book contract (OA) with Routledge (2026); a state-of-the-art and a general theoretical proposal under evaluation; and a cross-case comparison (Spain/Russia) published in Open Research Europe. These publications formalise the analytical model and the historical findings.
Data and digital assets. Curated corpora accessible through DIGITAL.CSIC and project websites; transparent research catalogues enabling replication and teaching.
Network and events. Organisation of the I Symposium Workshop: Post-imperial Possibilities in the Iberian Pacific and Atlantic Worlds (1808–1898); participation in international congresses and permanent seminars; a book proposal with Liverpool University Press emerging from network activities.
Innovative outreach. A six-episode podcast (Iberómanos) translating research into informed public debate; radio programmes; two research-outreach websites; and a serious-games card deck (POST-EMPIRE: Intervention or Resistance), showcased at the European Researchers’ Night to engage students, teachers, and citizens in strategic thinking about empire’s legacies.
Career development and leadership. Award of a Ramón y Cajal contract (RYC2023-044990-I), enabling stabilisation as Full Professor at UNED within two years; award of a Fondecyt project (Chile), securing sustained EU–LATAM collaboration; advanced training during secondments at Cambridge (political theory of empire) and Freie Universität Berlin (Latin America’s global history); PhD supervision in Spain and Chile; and leadership in team coordination, grant design, and cross-regional projects.
These achievements reinforce the dual impact pathway—scientific and professional—ensuring the project’s legacy outlives the fellowship.
Pathway to impact: who benefits, how, and on what scale?
1) Academic impact (research communities)
Beneficiaries. Global historians of empire; scholars of the nineteenth-century Hispanic world; political theorists of international order; IR constructivists studying strategic culture; historians of law and diplomatic practice.
Mechanisms.
Conceptual toolkit (ideology clusters; re-imperialization pathways; prestige-security dilemmas; gendered imaginaries) for comparative research and graduate teaching.
Open corpora and data to seed follow-on projects, digital exhibitions, and doctoral work.
OA monograph to synthesise the model and the Spanish Pacific case for a broad scholarly audience.
International network and symposium series to consolidate a new field—post-imperial conflict studies—with Iberian and trans-Pacific anchors.
Scale and significance. By filling a historiographical gap and formalising a generalisable framework, POST-EMPIRE changes how scholars conceptualise the transition from imperial dissolution to renewed intervention. The OA model and public datasets enhance citation, pedagogy, and cumulative knowledge.
2) Policy and strategic impact (EU, member states, think-tanks)
Beneficiaries. EEAS, DG INTPA, parliamentary research services, national MFAs and defence colleges, policy think-tanks concerned with conflict prevention, sanctions, strategic communication, and maritime security.
Mechanisms.
Historically grounded early-warning indicators derived from the Spanish case: watch for prestige crises, identity-restoration narratives, humanitarianised coercion, diaspora/consular mobilisation, and law-of-nations framings that mask escalatory intent.
Scenario design and red-teaming using the serious-games deck to translate theory into training exercises for diplomats, analysts, and students.
Briefing materials and seminars built from the OA article and forthcoming book, adaptable to policy curricula.
Scale and significance. The deliverables offer low-cost, high-uptake tools: public, citable, adaptable, and ready for integration into EU training pipelines. They address Strategic Compass priorities—conflict prevention, resilience, maritime awareness, and strategic communication—by reframing cases through post-imperial logics rather than generic “revanchism.”
3) Societal and educational impact (schools, universities, museums, civil society)
Beneficiaries. Secondary and tertiary educators; cultural institutions; NGOs interested in memory, identity, and decolonisation debates; students and general audiences.
Mechanisms.
Podcast series and public lectures that convert archival research into narrative pedagogy.
Web platforms that combine data with interpretive guides for classroom use.
Serious game that fosters historical literacy and ethical reflection on intervention, sovereignty, and responsibility.
Scale and significance. The combination of OA content, targeted outreach, and gamified learning reaches large, diverse audiences in both Europe and Latin America, normalising evidence-based debate about empire’s legacies.
Integration of Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH)
The project is conceived and executed as an SSH integration effort:
History supplies sources and chronology; political theory clarifies normative vocabularies and their rhetorical power; IR connects discourse to strategy. Rather than treating ideas as epiphenomena, the project shows how concepts are instruments—they authorise naval displays, consular protests, commercial retaliation, and humanitarian interventions.
Gender analysis is not an add-on but a structural dimension of legitimation. Competing masculinities/femininities—“honourable firmness” vs. “conciliatory peace,” paternal guardianship vs. fraternal equality—structured diplomatic scripts, press campaigns, and public rituals. This insight informs contemporary messaging in sensitive theatres where dignity and protection narratives are weaponised.
Digital humanities practices operationalise SSH integration in infrastructure: FAIR data, reproducible workflows, and public-facing platforms ensure that conceptual insights translate into collective scholarly capacity.
From project to program: the researcher’s trajectory as an impact multiplier
MSCA support accelerated a combined scientific and career trajectory that multiplies impact:
Stabilisation and leadership. The Ramón y Cajal contract paves the way to a permanent chair at UNED, anchoring a research hub with sustained project management, PhD training, and network coordination. The Fondecyt award guarantees bi-regional continuity and joint supervision, extending EU–LATAM cooperation and data sharing.
Training and transfer. Secondments at Cambridge and Freie Universität Berlin upgraded expertise and created two-way knowledge transfer: (i) integrating trans-Pacific and Latin American global history at CSIC; (ii) embedding political theory of empire and conceptual history within the project’s analytical frame; (iii) introducing the post-imperial conflicts model into host curricula and seminars.
Team formation. The Action enabled doctoral supervision in Spain and Chile on topics directly tied to the project (geopolitical imaginaries of S
pain; the Valparaíso bombardment in Chilean memory; civilisation in Spanish geopolitical thought). These theses will become early adopters and testers of the model, strengthening continuity.
Resource mobilisation. Combined RYC and Fondecyt funding (c. €300,000 for research activities) supports archival digitisation, data pipelines, and collaborative publications, ensuring the open corpora continue to grow and remain useful to the wider field.
In short, the individual career gains are not incidental; they are the infrastructure of impact, making the project’s insights durable, scalable, and internationally networked.
Communication, dissemination, and exploitation
Scholarly dissemination. Articles in Q1/Q2 journals; an Open Access monograph (Routledge, 2026); datasets and catalogues in DIGITAL.CSIC/EOSC; a follow-on edited volume under discussion with Liverpool University Press.
Public communication. Iberómanos podcast; radio programmes; public seminars in Spain, Chile, Germany, and beyond; two open websites with resources for educators and citizens.
Educational exploitation. The serious-games POST-EMPIRE: Intervention or Resistance offers modular scenarios for classrooms, summer schools, diplomatic training, and museums. It can be co-developed with education ministries and cultural institutions.
Policy exploitation. Briefing notes, scenario workshops, and red-team exercises for EU and national services. The analytical model can feed early-warning indicators and strategic communications playbooks specifically tuned to post-imperial triggers.
IP and openness. Academic texts and datasets follow Open Science mandates; the game’s IP is being explored for social enterprise/educational publishing, balancing accessibility with sustainability.
Environmental sustainability and ethics
The project followed a pragmatic Green Charter: travel clustering and public transport where feasible; heavy reliance on digital repositories; dematerialised teaching materials; and events using institutional venues and shared equipment. Substantively, the framework integrates ecosystem and territorial imaginaries within geopolitical thinking, linking resource frontiers (guano, nitrates, maritime routes) to ideology and conflict—an angle relevant to Green Deal debates on historical extractivism and environmental security.
Ethically, the project engages contested memories without polemics, foregrounds source transparency, and designs outreach tools that invite reflection rather than advocacy.
Risks, mitigation, and lessons learned
A key deviation—shortening the fellowship to 12 months due to the Ramón y Cajal award—was turned into a strength. Work packages were reprioritised: the e-book became a higher-impact Open Research Europe article; the book manuscript advanced to a signed OA contract; and outreach shifted from a planned social-media channel to more robust platforms (podcast, websites, public events, serious game). The lesson is clear: impact is a portfolio, not a single channel; diversification (OA, data, audio, games, seminars) increases reach and resilience.
Expected impacts: scale and significance
Scientific. Establish a comparative field of post-imperial conflict studies anchored in robust historical cases, conceptually equipped to dialogue with IR and political theory. The OA monograph, datasets, and network ensure international uptake.
Policy. Provide the EU and member states with historically grounded tools—concepts, indicators, and training modules—to interpret and anticipate post-imperial escalations. Expected beneficiaries include diplomatic academies, strategic-communications teams, and early-warning units.
Societal and educational. Enhance historical literacy and critical reflection on empire’s legacies across schools, universities, and cultural venues. The game and podcast formats can reach tens of thousands over time, especially with institutional partnerships.
Career and capacity. Consolidate a sustainable EU-LATAM research hub, with trained PhD cohorts, stable funding, and institutional anchoring at UNED, CSIC, Cambridge, and Freie Universität Berlin. This capacity multiplies impacts through future projects, workshops, and policy engagements.
Quantitatively, by 2026 the project expects: an OA monograph and several Q1 articles; a reusable corpus cited and downloaded across institutions; at least one edited volume from the network; game adoption in multiple classrooms and workshops; and a regular pipeline of policy-oriented seminars. Qualitatively, the project reframes how scholars and practitioners talk about and act within post-imperial theatres—moving from anecdotal analogies to structured, evidence-based comparison.
Conclusion: setting the scene—then changing it
POST-EMPIRE begins with a historical puzzle—how a liberalising Spain attempted to project power back into the South American Pacific—and ends with a contemporary proposition: post-imperial interventionism is a distinctive strategic culture with recurrent ideologies, instruments, and escalation paths. By recovering that culture in detail, theorising it comparatively, and translating it into open, teachable, and policy-usable resources, the project equips Europe to read today’s conflicts with sharper, historically informed eyes.
The project’s pathway to impact is therefore cumulative and self-reinforcing. Scholarly outputs legitimise the framework; open data sustains collaboration; training and secondments expand competence; outreach materials broaden social understanding; and career consolidation anchors a durable program. In short, POST-EMPIRE does more than set the scene for the story—it builds the stage, trains the cast, and writes the script by which researchers, students, and policymakers can recognise post-imperial dynamics and act with prudence and foresight.
Context, Motivation, and Pathway to Impact
Setting the scene: why a project on post-imperial intervention now?
Across Europe and beyond, foreign and security policy are increasingly shaped by the afterlives of empire. From Eastern Europe to the South Caucasus, from North Africa to the Pacific, crises escalate in theatres where a former imperial power still claims symbolic authority, strategic access, or historical rights. Yet the EU’s external action and Strategic Compass have only recently begun to integrate the historically specific dynamics of post-imperial conflicts—those in which a former metropole seeks to influence, discipline, or re-enter spaces once under its control. Understanding these conflicts requires more than conventional threat assessments; it demands a historical political sociology of strategic culture, attentive to ideas, memories, and geopolitical imaginaries that connect past imperial orders to present-day decision-making.
POST-EMPIRE responds to this need through a focused historical case that speaks to a wider pattern: Spain’s interventions, pressures, and diplomatic projects in the South American Pacific—Chile, Peru, and Ecuador—during the Isabeline era (1833–1868). In this period, Spanish authorities, naval officers, consular networks, private actors, and intellectuals experimented with strategies to (re)build influence without territorial reconquest. The result was a repertoire we can recognise today as informal or post-imperial imperialism: a blend of commercial nationalism, naval presence, prestige politics, humanitarian discourses, and ideological appeals to a shared “civilisation” or “Hispanic family.” These strategies culminated in the 1866 bombardments of Valparaíso and Callao—events that, although short of total war, reveal how post-imperial ambition can spiral into coercive escalation.
By reconstructing the political culture that made such actions thinkable, legitimate, and strategically “rational” for Spanish elites, POST-EMPIRE provides a historically grounded, conceptually precise lens for analysing other theatres where the legacies of empire continue to structure conflict and cooperation. The project thus “sets the scene” for an EU-relevant story: how ideas, identities, and strategic habits born in empire persist, and how they can be addressed by policy, diplomacy, and norm-building today.
The problem and the gap in knowledge
Three interlocking gaps motivated the project:
Historiographical gap. While the “imperial turn” transformed historical studies of empire, comparatively little work has examined post-imperial interventionism as a distinct phenomenon with its own ideological and strategic logics. Nineteenth-century Spain in the Pacific is especially under-studied, typically treated either as a prelude to 1898 or as episodic diplomacy, rather than as a coherent grand strategy of re-imperialization.
Conceptual gap between History, Political Theory, and IR. Scholarship often treats strategic culture, ideology, and geopolitics in isolation. POST-EMPIRE integrates historical method (archival reconstruction), political theory (analysis of concepts such as civilisation, honour, order, peace, humanity), and constructivist IR (imaginaries, norms, and narratives) to show how elites make interventionism intelligible and legitimate.
Policy gap. EU strategic documents reference history and values but seldom draw on comparative historical models of how post-imperial conflicts escalate, how identity-narratives operate, and how informal instruments (consular networks, private actors, commercial lawfare, naval presence) interact with formal diplomacy. POST-EMPIRE translates historical memory into decision-support for early warning, conflict prevention, and strategic communication.
Overall objectives
The project pursued five mutually reinforcing objectives:
Reconstruct the geopolitical imaginaries and interests underpinning Spanish post-imperial interventionism in Chile, Peru, and Ecuador (1833–1868), with special attention to pan-Hispanism, free-trade imperialism, (anti)republicanism, navalism, honour and prestige, humanitarianism, and “civilisation.”
Map emulation and competition with Britain, France, and the United States to explain how Spanish strategic culture adapted and differentiated itself within a crowded imperial field.
Build an interdisciplinary framework—bridging History, Political Theory, and International Relations—to compare post-imperial conflicts across time and space, generating portable concepts (e.g. ideology clusters, re-imperialization pathways, prestige-security dilemmas).
Create open, reusable research assets: curated archival/bibliographic corpora, FAIR data catalogues, and digital-humanities platforms to enable replication and comparative extension.
Translate scholarship into impact for policy, education, and public debate: targeted dissemination, an international research network, Open Access publications (including an OA monograph under contract), and innovative outreach (podcast series; a serious-games card deck) that turn complex theory into accessible tools.
Closely linked to these project-level aims were career-development objectives achieved during the Action: securing a permanent academic trajectory in Europe while consolidating bi-regional (EU–LATAM) collaboration; building a multi-institutional network; gaining advanced training in global history, political theory of empire, and IR constructivism; and leading teams, events, and PhD supervision to anchor a sustainable research program.
Concept and approach: from archives to theory to impact
Case logic and comparative leverage
The South American Pacific in 1833–1868 offers ideal analytical leverage. Spain confronted newly independent republics that were culturally proximate yet politically autonomous; British and French economic-naval power constrained Spanish options; the United States’ hemispheric ambitions grew; and trans-Pacific connections (via the Philippines) animated strategic thought. This environment made indirect instruments—consulates, private commercial networks, naval stations, press campaigns, humanitarian rhetoric—especially salient. By reconstructing how these instruments were imagined, legitimated, and deployed, POST-EMPIRE identifies a post-imperial repertoire that travels across cases.
Interdisciplinary engine (SSH integration)
The project is rooted in Social Sciences and Humanities integration:
History provides the evidentiary backbone: multi-archive research in Spain, the UK, Germany, Chile, Peru, and Ecuador; press repositories across Europe and the Americas; and institutional collections (e.g. Ibero-Amerikanisches Institut, CSIC libraries).
Political Theory supplies conceptual precision: analysis of key political concepts—civilisation, honour, order, peace, sovereignty, humanity—showing how they shifted valences (often along gendered lines) and structured justification for intervention.
International Relations (constructivism) connects ideas to strategy: how imaginaries and normative claims shape policy choices, how prestige interacts with security, and how emulation/competition with other powers produces path dependence in strategic culture.
The result is an analytical model for post-imperial conflicts that can be applied comparatively (e.g. Spain–Americas; Russia–Ukraine), enabling dialogue with EU policy communities that require historically nuanced but actionable insights.
Methods, materials, and Open Science
Methodologically, the project combined qualitative archival reconstruction with conceptual analysis and source curation as a public good. It produced FAIR digital assets (catalogues of documents, press items, bibliographies) deposited in DIGITAL.CSIC/EOSC and disseminated via dedicated websites. This open infrastructure allows other teams to reproduce findings, test alternative hypotheses, and extend the comparative frame. The commitment to Open Access (journal articles, data catalogues, and an OA book contract with Routledge for 2026) ensures visibility and long-term reuse.
Gender and the politics of intervention
The research foregrounded the gendered construction of key geopolitical concepts. Competing discourses masculinised and feminised ideas such as honour, order, peace, and humanitarianism to authorise specific courses of action—conciliation vs. coercion, paternal “protection” vs. punitive prestige. Tracing these shifting gender imaginaries clarifies how moral vocabularies legitimate force, an insight with direct relevance for contemporary strategic communication and norm entrepreneurship.
Key results to date (research and career)
Even with the fellowship concluding after 12 months (authorised early closure), the project delivered or surpassed most objectives:
Publications and scholarly outputs. Peer-reviewed articles accepted/published in Q1/Q2 venues; a book contract (OA) with Routledge (2026); a state-of-the-art and a general theoretical proposal under evaluation; and a cross-case comparison (Spain/Russia) published in Open Research Europe. These publications formalise the analytical model and the historical findings.
Data and digital assets. Curated corpora accessible through DIGITAL.CSIC and project websites; transparent research catalogues enabling replication and teaching.
Network and events. Organisation of the I Symposium Workshop: Post-imperial Possibilities in the Iberian Pacific and Atlantic Worlds (1808–1898); participation in international congresses and permanent seminars; a book proposal with Liverpool University Press emerging from network activities.
Innovative outreach. A six-episode podcast (Iberómanos) translating research into informed public debate; radio programmes; two research-outreach websites; and a serious-games card deck (POST-EMPIRE: Intervention or Resistance), showcased at the European Researchers’ Night to engage students, teachers, and citizens in strategic thinking about empire’s legacies.
Career development and leadership. Award of a Ramón y Cajal contract (RYC2023-044990-I), enabling stabilisation as Full Professor at UNED within two years; award of a Fondecyt project (Chile), securing sustained EU–LATAM collaboration; advanced training during secondments at Cambridge (political theory of empire) and Freie Universität Berlin (Latin America’s global history); PhD supervision in Spain and Chile; and leadership in team coordination, grant design, and cross-regional projects.
These achievements reinforce the dual impact pathway—scientific and professional—ensuring the project’s legacy outlives the fellowship.
Pathway to impact: who benefits, how, and on what scale?
1) Academic impact (research communities)
Beneficiaries. Global historians of empire; scholars of the nineteenth-century Hispanic world; political theorists of international order; IR constructivists studying strategic culture; historians of law and diplomatic practice.
Mechanisms.
Conceptual toolkit (ideology clusters; re-imperialization pathways; prestige-security dilemmas; gendered imaginaries) for comparative research and graduate teaching.
Open corpora and data to seed follow-on projects, digital exhibitions, and doctoral work.
OA monograph to synthesise the model and the Spanish Pacific case for a broad scholarly audience.
International network and symposium series to consolidate a new field—post-imperial conflict studies—with Iberian and trans-Pacific anchors.
Scale and significance. By filling a historiographical gap and formalising a generalisable framework, POST-EMPIRE changes how scholars conceptualise the transition from imperial dissolution to renewed intervention. The OA model and public datasets enhance citation, pedagogy, and cumulative knowledge.
2) Policy and strategic impact (EU, member states, think-tanks)
Beneficiaries. EEAS, DG INTPA, parliamentary research services, national MFAs and defence colleges, policy think-tanks concerned with conflict prevention, sanctions, strategic communication, and maritime security.
Mechanisms.
Historically grounded early-warning indicators derived from the Spanish case: watch for prestige crises, identity-restoration narratives, humanitarianised coercion, diaspora/consular mobilisation, and law-of-nations framings that mask escalatory intent.
Scenario design and red-teaming using the serious-games deck to translate theory into training exercises for diplomats, analysts, and students.
Briefing materials and seminars built from the OA article and forthcoming book, adaptable to policy curricula.
Scale and significance. The deliverables offer low-cost, high-uptake tools: public, citable, adaptable, and ready for integration into EU training pipelines. They address Strategic Compass priorities—conflict prevention, resilience, maritime awareness, and strategic communication—by reframing cases through post-imperial logics rather than generic “revanchism.”
3) Societal and educational impact (schools, universities, museums, civil society)
Beneficiaries. Secondary and tertiary educators; cultural institutions; NGOs interested in memory, identity, and decolonisation debates; students and general audiences.
Mechanisms.
Podcast series and public lectures that convert archival research into narrative pedagogy.
Web platforms that combine data with interpretive guides for classroom use.
Serious game that fosters historical literacy and ethical reflection on intervention, sovereignty, and responsibility.
Scale and significance. The combination of OA content, targeted outreach, and gamified learning reaches large, diverse audiences in both Europe and Latin America, normalising evidence-based debate about empire’s legacies.
Integration of Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH)
The project is conceived and executed as an SSH integration effort:
History supplies sources and chronology; political theory clarifies normative vocabularies and their rhetorical power; IR connects discourse to strategy. Rather than treating ideas as epiphenomena, the project shows how concepts are instruments—they authorise naval displays, consular protests, commercial retaliation, and humanitarian interventions.
Gender analysis is not an add-on but a structural dimension of legitimation. Competing masculinities/femininities—“honourable firmness” vs. “conciliatory peace,” paternal guardianship vs. fraternal equality—structured diplomatic scripts, press campaigns, and public rituals. This insight informs contemporary messaging in sensitive theatres where dignity and protection narratives are weaponised.
Digital humanities practices operationalise SSH integration in infrastructure: FAIR data, reproducible workflows, and public-facing platforms ensure that conceptual insights translate into collective scholarly capacity.
From project to program: the researcher’s trajectory as an impact multiplier
MSCA support accelerated a combined scientific and career trajectory that multiplies impact:
Stabilisation and leadership. The Ramón y Cajal contract paves the way to a permanent chair at UNED, anchoring a research hub with sustained project management, PhD training, and network coordination. The Fondecyt award guarantees bi-regional continuity and joint supervision, extending EU–LATAM cooperation and data sharing.
Training and transfer. Secondments at Cambridge and Freie Universität Berlin upgraded expertise and created two-way knowledge transfer: (i) integrating trans-Pacific and Latin American global history at CSIC; (ii) embedding political theory of empire and conceptual history within the project’s analytical frame; (iii) introducing the post-imperial conflicts model into host curricula and seminars.
Team formation. The Action enabled doctoral supervision in Spain and Chile on topics directly tied to the project (geopolitical imaginaries of S
pain; the Valparaíso bombardment in Chilean memory; civilisation in Spanish geopolitical thought). These theses will become early adopters and testers of the model, strengthening continuity.
Resource mobilisation. Combined RYC and Fondecyt funding (c. €300,000 for research activities) supports archival digitisation, data pipelines, and collaborative publications, ensuring the open corpora continue to grow and remain useful to the wider field.
In short, the individual career gains are not incidental; they are the infrastructure of impact, making the project’s insights durable, scalable, and internationally networked.
Communication, dissemination, and exploitation
Scholarly dissemination. Articles in Q1/Q2 journals; an Open Access monograph (Routledge, 2026); datasets and catalogues in DIGITAL.CSIC/EOSC; a follow-on edited volume under discussion with Liverpool University Press.
Public communication. Iberómanos podcast; radio programmes; public seminars in Spain, Chile, Germany, and beyond; two open websites with resources for educators and citizens.
Educational exploitation. The serious-games POST-EMPIRE: Intervention or Resistance offers modular scenarios for classrooms, summer schools, diplomatic training, and museums. It can be co-developed with education ministries and cultural institutions.
Policy exploitation. Briefing notes, scenario workshops, and red-team exercises for EU and national services. The analytical model can feed early-warning indicators and strategic communications playbooks specifically tuned to post-imperial triggers.
IP and openness. Academic texts and datasets follow Open Science mandates; the game’s IP is being explored for social enterprise/educational publishing, balancing accessibility with sustainability.
Environmental sustainability and ethics
The project followed a pragmatic Green Charter: travel clustering and public transport where feasible; heavy reliance on digital repositories; dematerialised teaching materials; and events using institutional venues and shared equipment. Substantively, the framework integrates ecosystem and territorial imaginaries within geopolitical thinking, linking resource frontiers (guano, nitrates, maritime routes) to ideology and conflict—an angle relevant to Green Deal debates on historical extractivism and environmental security.
Ethically, the project engages contested memories without polemics, foregrounds source transparency, and designs outreach tools that invite reflection rather than advocacy.
Risks, mitigation, and lessons learned
A key deviation—shortening the fellowship to 12 months due to the Ramón y Cajal award—was turned into a strength. Work packages were reprioritised: the e-book became a higher-impact Open Research Europe article; the book manuscript advanced to a signed OA contract; and outreach shifted from a planned social-media channel to more robust platforms (podcast, websites, public events, serious game). The lesson is clear: impact is a portfolio, not a single channel; diversification (OA, data, audio, games, seminars) increases reach and resilience.
Expected impacts: scale and significance
Scientific. Establish a comparative field of post-imperial conflict studies anchored in robust historical cases, conceptually equipped to dialogue with IR and political theory. The OA monograph, datasets, and network ensure international uptake.
Policy. Provide the EU and member states with historically grounded tools—concepts, indicators, and training modules—to interpret and anticipate post-imperial escalations. Expected beneficiaries include diplomatic academies, strategic-communications teams, and early-warning units.
Societal and educational. Enhance historical literacy and critical reflection on empire’s legacies across schools, universities, and cultural venues. The game and podcast formats can reach tens of thousands over time, especially with institutional partnerships.
Career and capacity. Consolidate a sustainable EU-LATAM research hub, with trained PhD cohorts, stable funding, and institutional anchoring at UNED, CSIC, Cambridge, and Freie Universität Berlin. This capacity multiplies impacts through future projects, workshops, and policy engagements.
Quantitatively, by 2026 the project expects: an OA monograph and several Q1 articles; a reusable corpus cited and downloaded across institutions; at least one edited volume from the network; game adoption in multiple classrooms and workshops; and a regular pipeline of policy-oriented seminars. Qualitatively, the project reframes how scholars and practitioners talk about and act within post-imperial theatres—moving from anecdotal analogies to structured, evidence-based comparison.
Conclusion: setting the scene—then changing it
POST-EMPIRE begins with a historical puzzle—how a liberalising Spain attempted to project power back into the South American Pacific—and ends with a contemporary proposition: post-imperial interventionism is a distinctive strategic culture with recurrent ideologies, instruments, and escalation paths. By recovering that culture in detail, theorising it comparatively, and translating it into open, teachable, and policy-usable resources, the project equips Europe to read today’s conflicts with sharper, historically informed eyes.
The project’s pathway to impact is therefore cumulative and self-reinforcing. Scholarly outputs legitimise the framework; open data sustains collaboration; training and secondments expand competence; outreach materials broaden social understanding; and career consolidation anchors a durable program. In short, POST-EMPIRE does more than set the scene for the story—it builds the stage, trains the cast, and writes the script by which researchers, students, and policymakers can recognise post-imperial dynamics and act with prudence and foresight.
Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far
Activities Performed and Main Scientific Achievements
1. Overview of the Scientific and Technical Work
The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action POST-EMPIRE (Grant Agreement No. 101148590) was conceived as an interdisciplinary historical-political investigation into the dynamics of post-imperial interventionism, taking nineteenth-century Spain as a paradigmatic case. The project’s core technical objective was to reconstruct and interpret the strategic culture that informed Spanish interventionist policies toward the newly independent South American republics of the Pacific—Chile, Peru, and Ecuador—between 1833 and 1868, and to develop a comparative analytical model for studying analogous post-imperial conflicts in other contexts.
The scientific activities were designed around six Work Packages (WP1–WP6) combining archival research, bibliographic review, conceptual analysis, theoretical modelling, and interdisciplinary training. Despite the fellowship’s early conclusion (12 months instead of 24, authorised by the Project Officer following the award of a Ramón y Cajal contract), all scientific and technical objectives were fully or substantially achieved, often exceeding expectations.
2. Main Research Activities
WP1 – Training and Academic Integration (CSIC)
Objective: Integration within the host institution (CCHS–CSIC), advanced training in global and trans-Pacific history, and acquisition of interdisciplinary skills.
Activities:
Participation in CSIC’s Global and International History Seminars and GAP internal meetings.
Weekly supervision meetings with Prof. María Dolores Elizalde.
Delivery of methodological seminars and postgraduate short courses at CSIC, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez (Chile), and Freie Universität Berlin.
Attendance at the High Specialisation Courses of the CSIC’s Training Department and implementation of the Human Resources Strategy for Researchers (HRS4R).
Achievements:
Full integration into CSIC academic structures and research groups.
Acquisition of advanced knowledge in imperial and post-imperial historiography, comparative political theory, and global history methodologies.
Completion of a detailed Career Development Plan, which culminated in the award of a Ramón y Cajal Contract (RYC2023-044990-I), consolidating the researcher’s career path in Spain.
WP2 – Bibliographic Survey and Theoretical Framework
Objective: Establish a solid theoretical foundation for the study of post-imperial interventionism by reviewing historical, sociological, and political literature.
Activities:
Continuous bibliographic review across European and Latin American libraries and digital repositories.
Integration of sources from History, Political Theory, Historical Sociology, and International Relations.
Identification of key theoretical gaps linking imperial legacies, strategic cultures, and post-imperial ideologies.
Achievements:
Construction of a comparative theoretical model connecting empire dissolution with new forms of informal imperialism.
Completion of Milestone 2: comprehensive bibliographic corpus and theoretical synthesis.
Direct contribution to three peer-reviewed theoretical papers, including “Patterns of Reimperialization and Postimperial Strategic Cultures” (Open Research Europe, 2025).
WP3 – Archival Research in Spain and Europe
Objective: Collect and analyse primary sources on Spain’s post-imperial policies from national and naval archives, and produce the first article based on empirical findings.
Activities:
Systematic consultation of archival collections: Archivo Histórico Nacional (Spain), Archivo General de la Administración, Archivo Histórico de la Armada, Archivo del Congreso de los Diputados, and the British National Archives.
Use of historical press repositories (Hemeroteca Digital Hispánica, Gallica, British Newspaper Archive).
Data registration and digitisation following FAIR principles, accessible at DIGITAL.CSIC.
Achievements:
Compilation of an extensive corpus of diplomatic, naval, and press sources.
Delivery of Milestones 3–4: completion of data registration and submission of Deliverable 3.1 (“From Liberal Internationalism to Postimperial Interventionism: Spain in the Andes, 1833–1866”).
Overachievement: four peer-reviewed articles produced from WP3 instead of the single one originally planned.
WP4 – Archival Research in Latin America
Objective: Extend the empirical base to South American sources and assess how local elites perceived and reacted to Spanish interventions.
Activities:
Archival research in Chile, Peru, and Ecuador: National Historical Archives and Foreign Affairs collections; consultation of the Biblioteca Nacional de Chile and Biblioteca Nacional del Perú.
Integration of findings into an open-access data catalogue hosted by DIGITAL.CSIC.
Achievements:
Completion of Milestones 5–8: full data registration and submission of Deliverable 4.1 (“The Spanish Consuls and Post-Imperial Interventionism in Chile, Peru, and Ecuador, 1833–1866”).
Generation of new empirical evidence on consular diplomacy, naval projection, and commercial nationalism.
Preparation of additional scholarly works: Journal of World History (accepted) and Historia Contemporánea (forthcoming).
WP5 – Analysis and Theoretical Modelling
Objective: Synthesize empirical and theoretical findings into a coherent model explaining post-imperial conflicts and prepare the book manuscript.
Activities:
Comparative analysis of European and Latin American archival materials.
Refinement of analytical categories: geopolitical imaginaries, strategic culture, ideological clusters, and prestige-security dilemmas.
Drafting of theoretical framework connecting historical cases (Spain, Russia, Britain, France).
Achievements:
Design of a full analytical model integrating History, Political Theory, and Constructivist IR—a novel interdisciplinary synthesis.
Completion of Milestones 9–11 (except for Deliverable 5.1 which was advanced as a book proposal).
Acceptance of the monograph proposal by Routledge, contracted for Open Access publication in 2026 under the title Postimperial Imperialism. The Grand Strategy of Spain in the South American Pacific (1833–1871).
Substitution of the shorter e-book (Deliverable 5.2) by a peer-reviewed synthesis article in Open Research Europe, ensuring higher visibility and scholarly validation.
WP6 – Dissemination and Scientific Networking (Technical Dimension)
(Communication and outreach activities are reported separately; here only their technical and scientific components are noted.)
Objective: Strengthen international cooperation, consolidate an interdisciplinary research community, and ensure scientific exploitation of results.
Activities:
Coordination of the I Symposium Workshop: Postimperial Possibilities in the Iberian Pacific and Atlantic Worlds (1808–1898) at CSIC (May 2025).
Participation in five major international congresses and five permanent seminars across Europe and Latin America.
Establishment of a collaborative network and initiation of a collective volume proposal with Liverpool University Press.
Achievements:
Formation of an international network on post-imperial conflict studies, linking institutions in Spain, the UK, Germany, Chile, and France.
Consolidation of CSIC’s role as a European hub for interdisciplinary historical-political research on empire and intervention.
3. Scientific and Technical Results
a) Empirical Contributions
Primary-source discoveries from European and Latin American archives that illuminate Spain’s foreign policy mechanisms in the Pacific.
Creation of open-access catalogues (archival, bibliographic, and press data) deposited in DIGITAL.CSIC enabling research reproducibility.
Documentation of transnational interactions among diplomats, merchants, naval officers, and intellectuals shaping post-imperial ideologies.
b) Theoretical Contributions
Development of an interdisciplinary model of post-imperial conflict, articulating four analytical dimensions:
Ideological – discourses of civilisation, honour, peace, and humanitarianism.
Geostrategic – emulation and rivalry among imperial powers.
Ethnic-symbolic – shared cultural frameworks legitimising informal domination.
Socioeconomic – global capitalism, maritime routes, and extractive frontiers.
Application of the model to comparative contexts (e.g. Spain/Latin America and Russia/Ukraine) in the Open Research Europe article Patterns of Reimperialization and Postimperial Strategic Cultures (2025).
Introduction of the concept of re-imperialization as a cyclical process in which former empires attempt to reassert symbolic and material influence through non-territorial means.
c) Methodological Innovations
Integration of digital humanities tools and FAIR data principles to manage and share complex archival corpora.
Hybrid methodology combining historical source criticism with conceptual analysis and strategic theory.
Gender analysis embedded in the examination of geopolitical language, revealing how masculinised and feminised tropes structured legitimations of intervention.
d) Integration of Social Sciences and Humanities
Demonstrated the productive convergence of History, Political Theory, and International Relations in addressing strategic and ideological questions.
Produced theoretical instruments transferable to contemporary policy analysis (e.g. “prestige-security dilemma” and “humanitarianised coercion”).
Reinforced SSH leadership within EU research by showing how historical-political reflection contributes to understanding global security challenges.
e) Open Science Implementation
All scientific outputs deposited in DIGITAL.CSIC and, when possible, published in Open Access venues.
Reproducibility guaranteed through public sharing of datasets, bibliographies, and digitised primary materials.
Created two open-access web platforms (Noticias del Viejo Imperio and Bomba España Valparaíso Project) functioning as dynamic repositories for future comparative work.
4. Key Scientific Outcomes
Peer-Reviewed Publications
Open Research Europe (2025) – Patterns of Reimperialization and Postimperial Strategic Cultures. The Cases of Liberal Spain and Post-Soviet Russia (Q1).
Journal of World History (2026, accepted) – The Spanish Naval Station in the Pacific: A Frustrated Project of Global Regeneration (1833–1866) (Q1).
Historia Contemporánea (2026, in press) – El apresamiento de la “María y Julia”: Imaginarios posimperiales y derecho internacional en un pleito hispano-peruano (1859–1864) (Q1).
Araucaria (2025) – Los Ayacuchos entre el moderantismo y el esparterismo: memorias posimperiales e identidades políticas en la España isabelina (Q1).
Cuadernos de Ilustración y Romanticismo (2025) – Adela y Matilde: panhispanismo y humanitarismo liberal en una novela romántica (1843) (Q2).
Arbor (under review, 2025) – Death Throes of Power: Towards a Socio-Historical Theory of Reimperialization Processes (Q1).
Comparative Studies in Society and History (under review, 2025) – Imperial Legacies and Reimperialization Processes: State of the Art and Theoretical Proposals (Q1).
Books and Long-Form Outputs
Routledge Monograph (Contracted, 2026): Postimperial Imperialism. The Grand Strategy of Spain in the South American Pacific (1833–1871) (Open Access).
Collective Volume Proposal (Under Review): Postimperial Possibilities in the Iberian Pacific and Atlantic Worlds (1808–1898), Liverpool University Press.
Data and Digital Outputs
FAIR archival catalogues: https://digital.csic.es/browse?type=author&value=Escribano+Roca%2C+Rodrigo(opens in new window)
Digital Humanities platforms:
https://envi19.hcommons.org(opens in new window)
https://cmhbombaespanavalparaiso.omeka.net/el-proyecto(opens in new window)
5. Outcomes of the Action
Consolidated Scientific Achievements
Filling a historiographical gap by reframing Isabeline Spain’s foreign policy as a coherent re-imperialising strategy rather than isolated diplomacy.
Production of a transferable analytical model that bridges historical scholarship and political science, enabling future comparative research on other post-imperial cases (e.g. Russia, Britain, France).
Empirical documentation of the networks, ideologies, and narratives that underpinned informal imperialism, now accessible to the global research community.
Contribution to theory-building in global history, conceptual history, and IR constructivism through systematic integration of their methodologies.
Structural Career and Network Outcomes
The researcher achieved stable academic consolidation in Europe (Ramón y Cajal Contract, UNED) and sustained cooperation with Latin America (Fondecyt Project, Chile).
Creation of a trans-European–Latin American research network on post-imperial conflicts, with new collaborations in Asia under development.
Supervision of three doctoral theses directly related to the project’s scientific objectives, ensuring knowledge transfer and continuity.
Long-term integration of the analytical model into postgraduate teaching and European policy training programs.
Broader Scientific Legacy
POST-EMPIRE stands as the first comparative and theoretical framework specifically dedicated to the study of post-imperial interventionism. It not only deepened historical understanding of Spain’s nineteenth-century foreign policy but also equipped scholars and policymakers with conceptual tools to interpret present-day post-imperial dynamics. The Action’s scientific and technical results—peer-reviewed outputs, open datasets, and theoretical advances—constitute a sustainable platform for future EU–LATAM cooperation, ensuring that the insights generated will continue to inform research, teaching, and strategic reflection well beyond the project’s formal completion.
1. Overview of the Scientific and Technical Work
The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action POST-EMPIRE (Grant Agreement No. 101148590) was conceived as an interdisciplinary historical-political investigation into the dynamics of post-imperial interventionism, taking nineteenth-century Spain as a paradigmatic case. The project’s core technical objective was to reconstruct and interpret the strategic culture that informed Spanish interventionist policies toward the newly independent South American republics of the Pacific—Chile, Peru, and Ecuador—between 1833 and 1868, and to develop a comparative analytical model for studying analogous post-imperial conflicts in other contexts.
The scientific activities were designed around six Work Packages (WP1–WP6) combining archival research, bibliographic review, conceptual analysis, theoretical modelling, and interdisciplinary training. Despite the fellowship’s early conclusion (12 months instead of 24, authorised by the Project Officer following the award of a Ramón y Cajal contract), all scientific and technical objectives were fully or substantially achieved, often exceeding expectations.
2. Main Research Activities
WP1 – Training and Academic Integration (CSIC)
Objective: Integration within the host institution (CCHS–CSIC), advanced training in global and trans-Pacific history, and acquisition of interdisciplinary skills.
Activities:
Participation in CSIC’s Global and International History Seminars and GAP internal meetings.
Weekly supervision meetings with Prof. María Dolores Elizalde.
Delivery of methodological seminars and postgraduate short courses at CSIC, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez (Chile), and Freie Universität Berlin.
Attendance at the High Specialisation Courses of the CSIC’s Training Department and implementation of the Human Resources Strategy for Researchers (HRS4R).
Achievements:
Full integration into CSIC academic structures and research groups.
Acquisition of advanced knowledge in imperial and post-imperial historiography, comparative political theory, and global history methodologies.
Completion of a detailed Career Development Plan, which culminated in the award of a Ramón y Cajal Contract (RYC2023-044990-I), consolidating the researcher’s career path in Spain.
WP2 – Bibliographic Survey and Theoretical Framework
Objective: Establish a solid theoretical foundation for the study of post-imperial interventionism by reviewing historical, sociological, and political literature.
Activities:
Continuous bibliographic review across European and Latin American libraries and digital repositories.
Integration of sources from History, Political Theory, Historical Sociology, and International Relations.
Identification of key theoretical gaps linking imperial legacies, strategic cultures, and post-imperial ideologies.
Achievements:
Construction of a comparative theoretical model connecting empire dissolution with new forms of informal imperialism.
Completion of Milestone 2: comprehensive bibliographic corpus and theoretical synthesis.
Direct contribution to three peer-reviewed theoretical papers, including “Patterns of Reimperialization and Postimperial Strategic Cultures” (Open Research Europe, 2025).
WP3 – Archival Research in Spain and Europe
Objective: Collect and analyse primary sources on Spain’s post-imperial policies from national and naval archives, and produce the first article based on empirical findings.
Activities:
Systematic consultation of archival collections: Archivo Histórico Nacional (Spain), Archivo General de la Administración, Archivo Histórico de la Armada, Archivo del Congreso de los Diputados, and the British National Archives.
Use of historical press repositories (Hemeroteca Digital Hispánica, Gallica, British Newspaper Archive).
Data registration and digitisation following FAIR principles, accessible at DIGITAL.CSIC.
Achievements:
Compilation of an extensive corpus of diplomatic, naval, and press sources.
Delivery of Milestones 3–4: completion of data registration and submission of Deliverable 3.1 (“From Liberal Internationalism to Postimperial Interventionism: Spain in the Andes, 1833–1866”).
Overachievement: four peer-reviewed articles produced from WP3 instead of the single one originally planned.
WP4 – Archival Research in Latin America
Objective: Extend the empirical base to South American sources and assess how local elites perceived and reacted to Spanish interventions.
Activities:
Archival research in Chile, Peru, and Ecuador: National Historical Archives and Foreign Affairs collections; consultation of the Biblioteca Nacional de Chile and Biblioteca Nacional del Perú.
Integration of findings into an open-access data catalogue hosted by DIGITAL.CSIC.
Achievements:
Completion of Milestones 5–8: full data registration and submission of Deliverable 4.1 (“The Spanish Consuls and Post-Imperial Interventionism in Chile, Peru, and Ecuador, 1833–1866”).
Generation of new empirical evidence on consular diplomacy, naval projection, and commercial nationalism.
Preparation of additional scholarly works: Journal of World History (accepted) and Historia Contemporánea (forthcoming).
WP5 – Analysis and Theoretical Modelling
Objective: Synthesize empirical and theoretical findings into a coherent model explaining post-imperial conflicts and prepare the book manuscript.
Activities:
Comparative analysis of European and Latin American archival materials.
Refinement of analytical categories: geopolitical imaginaries, strategic culture, ideological clusters, and prestige-security dilemmas.
Drafting of theoretical framework connecting historical cases (Spain, Russia, Britain, France).
Achievements:
Design of a full analytical model integrating History, Political Theory, and Constructivist IR—a novel interdisciplinary synthesis.
Completion of Milestones 9–11 (except for Deliverable 5.1 which was advanced as a book proposal).
Acceptance of the monograph proposal by Routledge, contracted for Open Access publication in 2026 under the title Postimperial Imperialism. The Grand Strategy of Spain in the South American Pacific (1833–1871).
Substitution of the shorter e-book (Deliverable 5.2) by a peer-reviewed synthesis article in Open Research Europe, ensuring higher visibility and scholarly validation.
WP6 – Dissemination and Scientific Networking (Technical Dimension)
(Communication and outreach activities are reported separately; here only their technical and scientific components are noted.)
Objective: Strengthen international cooperation, consolidate an interdisciplinary research community, and ensure scientific exploitation of results.
Activities:
Coordination of the I Symposium Workshop: Postimperial Possibilities in the Iberian Pacific and Atlantic Worlds (1808–1898) at CSIC (May 2025).
Participation in five major international congresses and five permanent seminars across Europe and Latin America.
Establishment of a collaborative network and initiation of a collective volume proposal with Liverpool University Press.
Achievements:
Formation of an international network on post-imperial conflict studies, linking institutions in Spain, the UK, Germany, Chile, and France.
Consolidation of CSIC’s role as a European hub for interdisciplinary historical-political research on empire and intervention.
3. Scientific and Technical Results
a) Empirical Contributions
Primary-source discoveries from European and Latin American archives that illuminate Spain’s foreign policy mechanisms in the Pacific.
Creation of open-access catalogues (archival, bibliographic, and press data) deposited in DIGITAL.CSIC enabling research reproducibility.
Documentation of transnational interactions among diplomats, merchants, naval officers, and intellectuals shaping post-imperial ideologies.
b) Theoretical Contributions
Development of an interdisciplinary model of post-imperial conflict, articulating four analytical dimensions:
Ideological – discourses of civilisation, honour, peace, and humanitarianism.
Geostrategic – emulation and rivalry among imperial powers.
Ethnic-symbolic – shared cultural frameworks legitimising informal domination.
Socioeconomic – global capitalism, maritime routes, and extractive frontiers.
Application of the model to comparative contexts (e.g. Spain/Latin America and Russia/Ukraine) in the Open Research Europe article Patterns of Reimperialization and Postimperial Strategic Cultures (2025).
Introduction of the concept of re-imperialization as a cyclical process in which former empires attempt to reassert symbolic and material influence through non-territorial means.
c) Methodological Innovations
Integration of digital humanities tools and FAIR data principles to manage and share complex archival corpora.
Hybrid methodology combining historical source criticism with conceptual analysis and strategic theory.
Gender analysis embedded in the examination of geopolitical language, revealing how masculinised and feminised tropes structured legitimations of intervention.
d) Integration of Social Sciences and Humanities
Demonstrated the productive convergence of History, Political Theory, and International Relations in addressing strategic and ideological questions.
Produced theoretical instruments transferable to contemporary policy analysis (e.g. “prestige-security dilemma” and “humanitarianised coercion”).
Reinforced SSH leadership within EU research by showing how historical-political reflection contributes to understanding global security challenges.
e) Open Science Implementation
All scientific outputs deposited in DIGITAL.CSIC and, when possible, published in Open Access venues.
Reproducibility guaranteed through public sharing of datasets, bibliographies, and digitised primary materials.
Created two open-access web platforms (Noticias del Viejo Imperio and Bomba España Valparaíso Project) functioning as dynamic repositories for future comparative work.
4. Key Scientific Outcomes
Peer-Reviewed Publications
Open Research Europe (2025) – Patterns of Reimperialization and Postimperial Strategic Cultures. The Cases of Liberal Spain and Post-Soviet Russia (Q1).
Journal of World History (2026, accepted) – The Spanish Naval Station in the Pacific: A Frustrated Project of Global Regeneration (1833–1866) (Q1).
Historia Contemporánea (2026, in press) – El apresamiento de la “María y Julia”: Imaginarios posimperiales y derecho internacional en un pleito hispano-peruano (1859–1864) (Q1).
Araucaria (2025) – Los Ayacuchos entre el moderantismo y el esparterismo: memorias posimperiales e identidades políticas en la España isabelina (Q1).
Cuadernos de Ilustración y Romanticismo (2025) – Adela y Matilde: panhispanismo y humanitarismo liberal en una novela romántica (1843) (Q2).
Arbor (under review, 2025) – Death Throes of Power: Towards a Socio-Historical Theory of Reimperialization Processes (Q1).
Comparative Studies in Society and History (under review, 2025) – Imperial Legacies and Reimperialization Processes: State of the Art and Theoretical Proposals (Q1).
Books and Long-Form Outputs
Routledge Monograph (Contracted, 2026): Postimperial Imperialism. The Grand Strategy of Spain in the South American Pacific (1833–1871) (Open Access).
Collective Volume Proposal (Under Review): Postimperial Possibilities in the Iberian Pacific and Atlantic Worlds (1808–1898), Liverpool University Press.
Data and Digital Outputs
FAIR archival catalogues: https://digital.csic.es/browse?type=author&value=Escribano+Roca%2C+Rodrigo(opens in new window)
Digital Humanities platforms:
https://envi19.hcommons.org(opens in new window)
https://cmhbombaespanavalparaiso.omeka.net/el-proyecto(opens in new window)
5. Outcomes of the Action
Consolidated Scientific Achievements
Filling a historiographical gap by reframing Isabeline Spain’s foreign policy as a coherent re-imperialising strategy rather than isolated diplomacy.
Production of a transferable analytical model that bridges historical scholarship and political science, enabling future comparative research on other post-imperial cases (e.g. Russia, Britain, France).
Empirical documentation of the networks, ideologies, and narratives that underpinned informal imperialism, now accessible to the global research community.
Contribution to theory-building in global history, conceptual history, and IR constructivism through systematic integration of their methodologies.
Structural Career and Network Outcomes
The researcher achieved stable academic consolidation in Europe (Ramón y Cajal Contract, UNED) and sustained cooperation with Latin America (Fondecyt Project, Chile).
Creation of a trans-European–Latin American research network on post-imperial conflicts, with new collaborations in Asia under development.
Supervision of three doctoral theses directly related to the project’s scientific objectives, ensuring knowledge transfer and continuity.
Long-term integration of the analytical model into postgraduate teaching and European policy training programs.
Broader Scientific Legacy
POST-EMPIRE stands as the first comparative and theoretical framework specifically dedicated to the study of post-imperial interventionism. It not only deepened historical understanding of Spain’s nineteenth-century foreign policy but also equipped scholars and policymakers with conceptual tools to interpret present-day post-imperial dynamics. The Action’s scientific and technical results—peer-reviewed outputs, open datasets, and theoretical advances—constitute a sustainable platform for future EU–LATAM cooperation, ensuring that the insights generated will continue to inform research, teaching, and strategic reflection well beyond the project’s formal completion.
Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)
1. Overview of Results
The POST-EMPIRE Project (Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action 101148590) generated a coherent set of scientific, methodological, and conceptual results that redefine the study of post-imperial conflicts and their contemporary implications. The project’s most significant outcome is the creation of a comparative and interdisciplinary analytical model that integrates insights from History, Political Theory, and International Relations to explain how former empires attempt to recover symbolic, political, and economic influence after imperial collapse.
This model, empirically grounded in the Spanish interventions in Chile, Peru, and Ecuador (1833–1868), provides a transferable framework applicable to other cases, such as Russia’s post-Soviet interventions, British informal imperialism, and French neo-colonial strategies. The project thereby contributes not only to historical scholarship but also to contemporary policy analysis, offering a historically informed lens for understanding power projection, legitimacy, and conflict in post-imperial regions.
From a technical and scientific perspective, POST-EMPIRE achieved:
The creation of new primary datasets and digital catalogues based on archival and bibliographic research in Europe and Latin America, fully compliant with FAIR and Open Science principles.
The development of a theoretical synthesis connecting imperial legacies, ideological constructions, and strategic cultures.
The publication of high-impact outputs, including peer-reviewed journal articles, book contracts, and outreach materials.
The institutionalisation of an international research network on post-imperial studies, linking European and Latin American universities.
The integration of gender analysis and environmental perspectives within the conceptualisation of nineteenth-century geopolitical imaginaries.
Together, these results consolidate a new field of inquiry—the historical and political study of reimperialization processes—and establish a robust foundation for long-term interdisciplinary research.
2. Potential Scientific and Societal Impacts
2.1. Scientific Impacts
a) Theoretical innovation and disciplinary integration
POST-EMPIRE bridges disciplines traditionally separated by methodological and institutional boundaries. By uniting History, Political Theory, and Constructivist International Relations, it introduces an analytical model capable of comparing post-imperial conflicts across regions and eras. This theoretical synthesis enables:
Systematic comparison of how empires attempt to restore influence through diplomacy, ideology, and trade after formal collapse.
Integration of cultural and symbolic dimensions (memory, legitimacy, identity) into the study of international power.
Application of conceptual history to international strategy, reinterpreting categories such as civilization, honour, prestige, and peace as historically contingent geopolitical constructs.
b) Empirical enrichment of global and transnational history
The archival work conducted in Spain, the United Kingdom, Germany, Chile, Peru, and Ecuador uncovered previously unstudied materials—including diplomatic correspondence, naval records, and press debates—that reframe Spain’s role as a re-emerging power in the nineteenth-century Pacific. The results:
Reveal the existence of a Spanish “grand strategy” seeking to re-establish informal influence over its former colonies.
Demonstrate how transnational networks of merchants, journalists, and consuls sustained a shared sense of Hispanic destiny.
Offer new insights into early globalisation processes, maritime infrastructures, and ideological exchanges between Europe and Latin America.
c) Conceptual and methodological transferability
The analytical model and digital infrastructures developed can be directly applied to other research areas. Comparative studies of British, French, or Russian post-imperial practices can adopt the same structure, allowing interoperability between historical and political analyses. This contributes to the standardisation of conceptual frameworks for studying reimperialization across global contexts.
2.2. Societal and Policy Impacts
a) Policy relevance for the European Union
By connecting the historical study of post-imperial interventionism with current security and diplomatic challenges, POST-EMPIRE aligns with the EU’s Strategic Compass and external action goals. The project:
Offers a historically grounded framework for conflict prevention and peace-making in regions affected by imperial legacies.
Helps to interpret patterns of norm diffusion, legitimacy crises, and geopolitical rivalry that still shape European relations with Latin America, Africa, and Eastern Europe.
Provides conceptual tools for EU and national institutions (EEAS, DG INTPA, national foreign ministries) to integrate memory-sensitive approaches in diplomacy and strategic communication.
b) Educational and cultural impact
The project has already influenced academic curricula and public understanding through:
Graduate teaching modules (e.g. Latin America in Strategic Perspective, Interdisciplinary Research Techniques).
Public seminars and workshops connecting historians, diplomats, and civil society actors.
Open-access digital platforms and a pedagogical card game (POST-EMPIRE: Intervention or Resistance) that translates academic findings into educational resources for schools, museums, and cultural institutions.
c) Contribution to historical literacy and democratic reflection
POST-EMPIRE fosters a more informed and critical understanding of how past empires continue to shape global hierarchies, nationalism, and interventionism. By disseminating historical research in accessible formats—podcasts, online archives, open data—the project enhances citizen engagement with history and foreign policy, supporting the EU’s goal of promoting evidence-based public discourse and cultural diplomacy.
2.3. Career and Institutional Impacts
a) Researcher’s consolidation and leadership
The fellowship accelerated the researcher’s career trajectory, leading to:
Award of the Ramón y Cajal Contract (RYC2023-044990-I), guaranteeing academic stabilisation as Full Professor at the National University of Distance Education (UNED).
Award of the Fondecyt Project Nº 1240232 by the Chilean National Agency for Research and Development, ensuring sustained cooperation with Latin American institutions.
Establishment of a transcontinental research network linking CSIC (Spain), University of Cambridge (UK), Freie Universität Berlin (Germany), Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez (Chile), and partner institutions in France and Serbia.
b) Institutional capacity-building
The host institution (CSIC) benefited from the project’s contribution to its global history and political thought programmes. POST-EMPIRE’s methodologies—digital cataloguing, interdisciplinary seminars, and Open Science dissemination—are now embedded in the CSIC International and Global History Department’s long-term strategy, reinforcing its leadership in European SSH research.
c) Network sustainability
The project catalysed the creation of a Post-Imperial Conflicts Network, which will continue to operate through the researcher’s RYC and Fondecyt grants. This network integrates scholars from Europe, Latin America, and Asia and aims to produce collective volumes, comparative databases, and policy briefs addressing how former empires manage influence in the twenty-first century.
3. Key Needs and Future Directions for Uptake
Although the project exceeded most of its scientific and societal objectives, further development and uptake will depend on three interrelated axes: research expansion, institutional consolidation, and dissemination scaling.
3.1. Further Research and Demonstration Needs
Comparative expansion: The analytical model should be tested on additional cases (e.g. French, British, Russian, and Ottoman post-imperial policies) through joint EU–LATAM and EU–Asia research programmes.
Quantitative and computational enrichment: Integration of digital humanities and computational text analysis (e.g. sentiment analysis of historical press) will allow quantitative validation of ideological patterns identified qualitatively.
Transdisciplinary dialogue: Future work could include collaboration with sociologists, anthropologists, and political psychologists to analyse the affective and identity dimensions of post-imperial power.
Gender and environmental perspectives: Further exploration of how gendered and ecological imaginaries shaped imperial ideologies will enhance the inclusiveness and sustainability of the model.
3.2. Access to Markets, Funding, and Partnerships
Educational and cultural markets: The POST-EMPIRE card game and digital archives have strong potential for adaptation into commercial educational products. Support from creative industries and museum networks could ensure scalability and distribution.
European and Latin American funding opportunities: The research team plans to apply for ERC Consolidator and Horizon Europe Cluster 2 calls, focusing on Democracy, Governance, and Cultural Heritage.
Private and institutional partnerships: Collaboration with European think tanks and Latin American policy centres will help translate academic insights into applied policy frameworks for conflict prevention.
3.3. IPR and Commercialisation Support
Intellectual Property Rights: The IPR of the POST-EMPIRE card game is currently under evaluation; further support for patenting or licensing could facilitate its publication and dissemination.
Open Science and data protection: Continued alignment with EOSC and DIGITAL.CSIC repositories will ensure that the project’s data remain FAIR-compliant and reusable by other researchers.
3.4. Internationalisation and Standardisation Framework
Network institutionalisation: Formalising the Post-Imperial Conflicts Network as a stable consortium would provide a platform for Horizon Europe applications and policy engagement.
Regulatory and ethical frameworks: The project’s approach—particularly its use of historical data for contemporary policy modelling—aligns with EU standards for research ethics and data management. Future developments will continue under these guidelines, ensuring responsible reuse of historical sources and compliance with open-access regulations.
Standardisation of methods: The conceptual and methodological vocabulary (e.g. “reimperialization,” “strategic culture,” “geopolitical imaginaries”) could serve as a terminological framework for EU-funded SSH projects dealing with empire, memory, and security.
4. Indicative Pathway to Impact
The pathway to impact of the POST-EMPIRE project can be summarised as follows:
Scientific Research
Result/Innovation: Comparative analytical model of post-imperial conflicts.
Expected Impact: Becomes a theoretical and empirical reference for global history and international relations.
Future Needs: Expand the comparative scope to other empires and promote interdisciplinary conferences.
Digital Humanities
Result/Innovation: Creation of open-access archival datasets (FAIR, EOSC compliant).
Expected Impact: Enables reproducibility, transparency, and collaboration among research institutions.
Future Needs: Continued funding for digitisation and maintenance of repositories.
Education and Outreach
Result/Innovation: Development of the POST-EMPIRE card game and Iberómanos podcast.
Expected Impact: Broadens historical literacy and public engagement across Europe and Latin America.
Future Needs: Intellectual property protection and partnerships for publication and distribution.
Policy and Strategic Relevance
Result/Innovation: Application of the model to the EU’s Strategic Compass and global security analysis.
Expected Impact: Provides historically grounded frameworks for conflict prevention, diplomacy, and peace-making.
Future Needs: Strengthen collaboration with EEAS, DG INTPA, and European think tanks.
Career Development and Institutional Growth
Result/Innovation: Consolidation of the researcher’s academic career and creation of a global network.
Expected Impact: Sustained leadership in EU–LATAM cooperation in Social Sciences and Humanities.
Future Needs: Institutionalisation through the Ramón y Cajal and Horizon Europe projects.
5. Long-Term Vision and Expected Legacy
The legacy of POST-EMPIRE lies in its dual contribution: scientific innovation and societal awareness. It transforms how scholars and policymakers understand the continuities between imperial pasts and contemporary power dynamics, while also offering practical instruments—data, concepts, and pedagogical tools—for critical engagement with those legacies.
In the long term, the project is expected to:
Establish a recognised subfield within global history and political theory focused on post-imperial and reimperialization studies.
Inform EU–Latin America cooperation frameworks, contributing to inclusive and historically aware diplomacy.
Enhance SSH integration in strategic policy, showing how cultural and ideological analysis complements geopolitical forecasting.
Stimulate educational innovation, bringing academic research into schools, universities, and public institutions through gamification and open-access media.
Inspire new generations of researchers, including the PhD candidates currently supervised under the project’s thematic scope.
Final Summary
The POST-EMPIRE Action has demonstrated how a Marie Curie fellowship can act simultaneously as a research accelerator and a career catalyst, producing internationally visible outputs and conceptual breakthroughs. The project’s continuation through forthcoming Routledge and Liverpool University Press publications, the international research network, and ongoing EU–LATAM cooperation ensures that its impact will persist well beyond the fellowship period.
To guarantee further uptake and success, the next steps will prioritise:
Institutionalising the network as a permanent consortium;
Expanding comparative and digital research infrastructures;
Securing funding for dissemination and commercialisation of educational outputs; and
Strengthening dialogue between academia, policy, and civil society.
Through these continuities, POST-EMPIRE will remain a reference point in the European effort to integrate historical understanding into global strategy, diplomacy, and cultural reflection—fulfilling the Marie Skłodowska-Curie programme’s ultimate goal: the creation of knowledge with transformative impact on both science and society.
Appendix: Scientific Publications Derived from POST-EMPIRE
Escribano Roca, Rodrigo. Postimperial Imperialism. The Grand Strategy of Spain in the South American Pacific (1833–1871). London: Routledge (Contract signed, publication 2026).
Escribano Roca, Rodrigo. “Patterns of Reimperialization and Postimperial Strategic Cultures. The Cases of Liberal Spain (1833–1868) and Post-Soviet Russia (1991–2025).” Open Research Europe 5 (2025): 266.
Escribano Roca, Rodrigo. “Imperial Legacies and Re-Imperialization Processes: State of the Art and Theoretical Proposals.” Comparative Studies in Society and History (under review).
Escribano Roca, Rodrigo. “Death Throes of Power: Towards a Socio-Historical Theory of Reimperialization Processes.” Arbor (under review).
Escribano Roca, Rodrigo. “Imperial Ends and Postimperial Dynamics. Historical Comparisons and the Role of the Nineteenth-Century Hispanic World.” English Historical Review (under review).
Escribano Roca, Rodrigo and Mikel Gómez Gastiasoro. “The Spanish Naval Station in the Pacific: A Frustrated Project of Global Regeneration (1833–1866).” Journal of World History (accepted, forthcoming 2026).
Escribano Roca, Rodrigo. “El apresamiento de la María y Julia: Imaginarios
posimperiales y derecho internacional en un pleito hispano-peruano (1859–1864).” Historia Contemporánea (accepted, forthcoming 2026).
Escribano Roca, Rodrigo. “Adela y Matilde. Memorias posimperiales, panhispanismo y humanitarismo liberal en una novela romántica (1843).” Cuadernos de Ilustración y Romanticismo 31 (2025): 591–615.
Escribano Roca, Rodrigo. “Los Ayacuchos entre el moderantismo y el esparterismo. Memorias posimperiales e identidades políticas en la España isabelina.” Araucaria 27, no. 58 (2025).
The POST-EMPIRE Project (Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action 101148590) generated a coherent set of scientific, methodological, and conceptual results that redefine the study of post-imperial conflicts and their contemporary implications. The project’s most significant outcome is the creation of a comparative and interdisciplinary analytical model that integrates insights from History, Political Theory, and International Relations to explain how former empires attempt to recover symbolic, political, and economic influence after imperial collapse.
This model, empirically grounded in the Spanish interventions in Chile, Peru, and Ecuador (1833–1868), provides a transferable framework applicable to other cases, such as Russia’s post-Soviet interventions, British informal imperialism, and French neo-colonial strategies. The project thereby contributes not only to historical scholarship but also to contemporary policy analysis, offering a historically informed lens for understanding power projection, legitimacy, and conflict in post-imperial regions.
From a technical and scientific perspective, POST-EMPIRE achieved:
The creation of new primary datasets and digital catalogues based on archival and bibliographic research in Europe and Latin America, fully compliant with FAIR and Open Science principles.
The development of a theoretical synthesis connecting imperial legacies, ideological constructions, and strategic cultures.
The publication of high-impact outputs, including peer-reviewed journal articles, book contracts, and outreach materials.
The institutionalisation of an international research network on post-imperial studies, linking European and Latin American universities.
The integration of gender analysis and environmental perspectives within the conceptualisation of nineteenth-century geopolitical imaginaries.
Together, these results consolidate a new field of inquiry—the historical and political study of reimperialization processes—and establish a robust foundation for long-term interdisciplinary research.
2. Potential Scientific and Societal Impacts
2.1. Scientific Impacts
a) Theoretical innovation and disciplinary integration
POST-EMPIRE bridges disciplines traditionally separated by methodological and institutional boundaries. By uniting History, Political Theory, and Constructivist International Relations, it introduces an analytical model capable of comparing post-imperial conflicts across regions and eras. This theoretical synthesis enables:
Systematic comparison of how empires attempt to restore influence through diplomacy, ideology, and trade after formal collapse.
Integration of cultural and symbolic dimensions (memory, legitimacy, identity) into the study of international power.
Application of conceptual history to international strategy, reinterpreting categories such as civilization, honour, prestige, and peace as historically contingent geopolitical constructs.
b) Empirical enrichment of global and transnational history
The archival work conducted in Spain, the United Kingdom, Germany, Chile, Peru, and Ecuador uncovered previously unstudied materials—including diplomatic correspondence, naval records, and press debates—that reframe Spain’s role as a re-emerging power in the nineteenth-century Pacific. The results:
Reveal the existence of a Spanish “grand strategy” seeking to re-establish informal influence over its former colonies.
Demonstrate how transnational networks of merchants, journalists, and consuls sustained a shared sense of Hispanic destiny.
Offer new insights into early globalisation processes, maritime infrastructures, and ideological exchanges between Europe and Latin America.
c) Conceptual and methodological transferability
The analytical model and digital infrastructures developed can be directly applied to other research areas. Comparative studies of British, French, or Russian post-imperial practices can adopt the same structure, allowing interoperability between historical and political analyses. This contributes to the standardisation of conceptual frameworks for studying reimperialization across global contexts.
2.2. Societal and Policy Impacts
a) Policy relevance for the European Union
By connecting the historical study of post-imperial interventionism with current security and diplomatic challenges, POST-EMPIRE aligns with the EU’s Strategic Compass and external action goals. The project:
Offers a historically grounded framework for conflict prevention and peace-making in regions affected by imperial legacies.
Helps to interpret patterns of norm diffusion, legitimacy crises, and geopolitical rivalry that still shape European relations with Latin America, Africa, and Eastern Europe.
Provides conceptual tools for EU and national institutions (EEAS, DG INTPA, national foreign ministries) to integrate memory-sensitive approaches in diplomacy and strategic communication.
b) Educational and cultural impact
The project has already influenced academic curricula and public understanding through:
Graduate teaching modules (e.g. Latin America in Strategic Perspective, Interdisciplinary Research Techniques).
Public seminars and workshops connecting historians, diplomats, and civil society actors.
Open-access digital platforms and a pedagogical card game (POST-EMPIRE: Intervention or Resistance) that translates academic findings into educational resources for schools, museums, and cultural institutions.
c) Contribution to historical literacy and democratic reflection
POST-EMPIRE fosters a more informed and critical understanding of how past empires continue to shape global hierarchies, nationalism, and interventionism. By disseminating historical research in accessible formats—podcasts, online archives, open data—the project enhances citizen engagement with history and foreign policy, supporting the EU’s goal of promoting evidence-based public discourse and cultural diplomacy.
2.3. Career and Institutional Impacts
a) Researcher’s consolidation and leadership
The fellowship accelerated the researcher’s career trajectory, leading to:
Award of the Ramón y Cajal Contract (RYC2023-044990-I), guaranteeing academic stabilisation as Full Professor at the National University of Distance Education (UNED).
Award of the Fondecyt Project Nº 1240232 by the Chilean National Agency for Research and Development, ensuring sustained cooperation with Latin American institutions.
Establishment of a transcontinental research network linking CSIC (Spain), University of Cambridge (UK), Freie Universität Berlin (Germany), Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez (Chile), and partner institutions in France and Serbia.
b) Institutional capacity-building
The host institution (CSIC) benefited from the project’s contribution to its global history and political thought programmes. POST-EMPIRE’s methodologies—digital cataloguing, interdisciplinary seminars, and Open Science dissemination—are now embedded in the CSIC International and Global History Department’s long-term strategy, reinforcing its leadership in European SSH research.
c) Network sustainability
The project catalysed the creation of a Post-Imperial Conflicts Network, which will continue to operate through the researcher’s RYC and Fondecyt grants. This network integrates scholars from Europe, Latin America, and Asia and aims to produce collective volumes, comparative databases, and policy briefs addressing how former empires manage influence in the twenty-first century.
3. Key Needs and Future Directions for Uptake
Although the project exceeded most of its scientific and societal objectives, further development and uptake will depend on three interrelated axes: research expansion, institutional consolidation, and dissemination scaling.
3.1. Further Research and Demonstration Needs
Comparative expansion: The analytical model should be tested on additional cases (e.g. French, British, Russian, and Ottoman post-imperial policies) through joint EU–LATAM and EU–Asia research programmes.
Quantitative and computational enrichment: Integration of digital humanities and computational text analysis (e.g. sentiment analysis of historical press) will allow quantitative validation of ideological patterns identified qualitatively.
Transdisciplinary dialogue: Future work could include collaboration with sociologists, anthropologists, and political psychologists to analyse the affective and identity dimensions of post-imperial power.
Gender and environmental perspectives: Further exploration of how gendered and ecological imaginaries shaped imperial ideologies will enhance the inclusiveness and sustainability of the model.
3.2. Access to Markets, Funding, and Partnerships
Educational and cultural markets: The POST-EMPIRE card game and digital archives have strong potential for adaptation into commercial educational products. Support from creative industries and museum networks could ensure scalability and distribution.
European and Latin American funding opportunities: The research team plans to apply for ERC Consolidator and Horizon Europe Cluster 2 calls, focusing on Democracy, Governance, and Cultural Heritage.
Private and institutional partnerships: Collaboration with European think tanks and Latin American policy centres will help translate academic insights into applied policy frameworks for conflict prevention.
3.3. IPR and Commercialisation Support
Intellectual Property Rights: The IPR of the POST-EMPIRE card game is currently under evaluation; further support for patenting or licensing could facilitate its publication and dissemination.
Open Science and data protection: Continued alignment with EOSC and DIGITAL.CSIC repositories will ensure that the project’s data remain FAIR-compliant and reusable by other researchers.
3.4. Internationalisation and Standardisation Framework
Network institutionalisation: Formalising the Post-Imperial Conflicts Network as a stable consortium would provide a platform for Horizon Europe applications and policy engagement.
Regulatory and ethical frameworks: The project’s approach—particularly its use of historical data for contemporary policy modelling—aligns with EU standards for research ethics and data management. Future developments will continue under these guidelines, ensuring responsible reuse of historical sources and compliance with open-access regulations.
Standardisation of methods: The conceptual and methodological vocabulary (e.g. “reimperialization,” “strategic culture,” “geopolitical imaginaries”) could serve as a terminological framework for EU-funded SSH projects dealing with empire, memory, and security.
4. Indicative Pathway to Impact
The pathway to impact of the POST-EMPIRE project can be summarised as follows:
Scientific Research
Result/Innovation: Comparative analytical model of post-imperial conflicts.
Expected Impact: Becomes a theoretical and empirical reference for global history and international relations.
Future Needs: Expand the comparative scope to other empires and promote interdisciplinary conferences.
Digital Humanities
Result/Innovation: Creation of open-access archival datasets (FAIR, EOSC compliant).
Expected Impact: Enables reproducibility, transparency, and collaboration among research institutions.
Future Needs: Continued funding for digitisation and maintenance of repositories.
Education and Outreach
Result/Innovation: Development of the POST-EMPIRE card game and Iberómanos podcast.
Expected Impact: Broadens historical literacy and public engagement across Europe and Latin America.
Future Needs: Intellectual property protection and partnerships for publication and distribution.
Policy and Strategic Relevance
Result/Innovation: Application of the model to the EU’s Strategic Compass and global security analysis.
Expected Impact: Provides historically grounded frameworks for conflict prevention, diplomacy, and peace-making.
Future Needs: Strengthen collaboration with EEAS, DG INTPA, and European think tanks.
Career Development and Institutional Growth
Result/Innovation: Consolidation of the researcher’s academic career and creation of a global network.
Expected Impact: Sustained leadership in EU–LATAM cooperation in Social Sciences and Humanities.
Future Needs: Institutionalisation through the Ramón y Cajal and Horizon Europe projects.
5. Long-Term Vision and Expected Legacy
The legacy of POST-EMPIRE lies in its dual contribution: scientific innovation and societal awareness. It transforms how scholars and policymakers understand the continuities between imperial pasts and contemporary power dynamics, while also offering practical instruments—data, concepts, and pedagogical tools—for critical engagement with those legacies.
In the long term, the project is expected to:
Establish a recognised subfield within global history and political theory focused on post-imperial and reimperialization studies.
Inform EU–Latin America cooperation frameworks, contributing to inclusive and historically aware diplomacy.
Enhance SSH integration in strategic policy, showing how cultural and ideological analysis complements geopolitical forecasting.
Stimulate educational innovation, bringing academic research into schools, universities, and public institutions through gamification and open-access media.
Inspire new generations of researchers, including the PhD candidates currently supervised under the project’s thematic scope.
Final Summary
The POST-EMPIRE Action has demonstrated how a Marie Curie fellowship can act simultaneously as a research accelerator and a career catalyst, producing internationally visible outputs and conceptual breakthroughs. The project’s continuation through forthcoming Routledge and Liverpool University Press publications, the international research network, and ongoing EU–LATAM cooperation ensures that its impact will persist well beyond the fellowship period.
To guarantee further uptake and success, the next steps will prioritise:
Institutionalising the network as a permanent consortium;
Expanding comparative and digital research infrastructures;
Securing funding for dissemination and commercialisation of educational outputs; and
Strengthening dialogue between academia, policy, and civil society.
Through these continuities, POST-EMPIRE will remain a reference point in the European effort to integrate historical understanding into global strategy, diplomacy, and cultural reflection—fulfilling the Marie Skłodowska-Curie programme’s ultimate goal: the creation of knowledge with transformative impact on both science and society.
Appendix: Scientific Publications Derived from POST-EMPIRE
Escribano Roca, Rodrigo. Postimperial Imperialism. The Grand Strategy of Spain in the South American Pacific (1833–1871). London: Routledge (Contract signed, publication 2026).
Escribano Roca, Rodrigo. “Patterns of Reimperialization and Postimperial Strategic Cultures. The Cases of Liberal Spain (1833–1868) and Post-Soviet Russia (1991–2025).” Open Research Europe 5 (2025): 266.
Escribano Roca, Rodrigo. “Imperial Legacies and Re-Imperialization Processes: State of the Art and Theoretical Proposals.” Comparative Studies in Society and History (under review).
Escribano Roca, Rodrigo. “Death Throes of Power: Towards a Socio-Historical Theory of Reimperialization Processes.” Arbor (under review).
Escribano Roca, Rodrigo. “Imperial Ends and Postimperial Dynamics. Historical Comparisons and the Role of the Nineteenth-Century Hispanic World.” English Historical Review (under review).
Escribano Roca, Rodrigo and Mikel Gómez Gastiasoro. “The Spanish Naval Station in the Pacific: A Frustrated Project of Global Regeneration (1833–1866).” Journal of World History (accepted, forthcoming 2026).
Escribano Roca, Rodrigo. “El apresamiento de la María y Julia: Imaginarios
posimperiales y derecho internacional en un pleito hispano-peruano (1859–1864).” Historia Contemporánea (accepted, forthcoming 2026).
Escribano Roca, Rodrigo. “Adela y Matilde. Memorias posimperiales, panhispanismo y humanitarismo liberal en una novela romántica (1843).” Cuadernos de Ilustración y Romanticismo 31 (2025): 591–615.
Escribano Roca, Rodrigo. “Los Ayacuchos entre el moderantismo y el esparterismo. Memorias posimperiales e identidades políticas en la España isabelina.” Araucaria 27, no. 58 (2025).