European Integration and Co-Imperialism

Until recently, the history of European imperialism was often comparative history, in which the British and French empires, and sometimes also the Dutch empire, were compared with each other. Only recently has there been more talk of a more common European approach to the colonial past, which also pays attention to the way in which European countries without overseas territories were involved in the imperial projects of other European countries. Moreover, recent research shows that the European integration process was closely intertwined with modern imperialism and decolonization. 

Tonight’s speakers will explore the advantages and disadvantages of this historiographical focus on Europe’s countless entanglements with the rest of the world. What are the pros and cons of studying modern imperialism as a collective European endeavour? They seek to address this issue not only by focusing on the historical debate, but also by taking into account current political issues and social tensions.  

About the speakers 

Hans Kundnani is an associate fellow and former director of the Europe programme at Chatham House, and author of Utopia or Auschwitz: The Paradox of German Power and Eurowhiteness: Culture, Empire and Race in the European Project, all published by Hurst. He writes regularly for The Observer, The Guardian, The New Statesman and Foreign Affairs, among others. 

Farid Boussaid is an Assistant Professor of Middle East Politics in the Department of Political Science at the University of Amsterdam. He completed his doctorate at the University of Oxford (Faculty of Oriental Studies). He is currently the Director of the Amsterdam Centre for Middle Eastern Studies (ACMES). 

Márcia Gonçalves is a historian of modern Europe and its colonial entanglements. She holds a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship at Leiden University Institute for History. Her current research interests explores the links between ideas of Europeanness, racial thought, and belonging during the Scramble for Africa. She aims to bring nuance into discussions of colonial European identities, complicate existing knowledge about what being an European meant, and challenge essentialist and static notions of Europe.

Nuri Kurnaz is a PhD researcher in the research programme “Colonial Exceptionalism or Co-Imperialism? Imperial exceptionalism or co-imperialism? Imperial powers and European unity.” His research is titled: European imperialism as a Collective European endeavour within the ranks of the Pan-European Union and the League of Nations (1929-1939).   

Robin de Bruin (moderator) is assistant professor in the Political History of European Integration in the European Studies Department of the University of Amsterdam. He has published on topics such as Euroscepticism, political exemplarity, and the entanglement of processes of decolonization and European integration.