PART A: Friday, Nov. 7, 2025 (1 p.m.)
1 p.m.: Dr. Harald Bergbauer (Chair of the EVG): Introduction
I) Theory and Typology of Empires
1.15 p.m.: Ass. Prof. Dr. Carol B. Cooper (University of Houston, TX): Empires in History. Patterns, Types, and Theories
1.55 p.m.: Matthias Schmid, M.A. (University of Munich): Power and spirit in the process of history. On Eric Voegelin’s typology of empires
2.35 p.m.: Prof. Dr. Walter Rothholz (University of Greifswald): Translatio imperii in the 3rd Millenium: Philosophy and Theology address Power and Revolution in History
3.15 p.m.: Break
II) Empires of Antiquity and the Middle Ages
4.00 p.m.: Prof. Dr. Raimund Schulz (University of Bielefeld): The Empires of Antiquity and the Ecumenic Age
4.40 p.m.: Prof. Dr. Arpad Szakolczai (University College Cork, IRL): Byzantine Perplexities
5.20 p.m.: Prof. Dr. David Walsh (Catholic University of America, D.C.): Sacrum Imperium as the Empire of the Person
6.00 p.m.: Discussion
Part B: Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025 (9 a.m.)
III) The Evolution of Empires and Nationalism in Modernity
9.00 a.m.: Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Leidhold (University of Cologne): The Nations and Empires of Modernity - Romantic Ideas and Geopolitical Gambits: A Critical Review
9.40 a.m.: Jan Okoński, M.A. (University of Lodz, Poland): Eric Voegelin and Arnold Toynbee: Empires in the Process of History
10.20 a.m.: Prof. Dr. Thomas Heilke (University of British Columbia, CAN): Athenians at Melos and Mongols to Rome: the Political Theology of Empire
11.00 a.m.: Break
IV) The End of the Imperial Age and the Resurgence of Multiple Empires
11.30 a.m.: Dr. Sebastian Hoppe (University of Berlin): The European Union as Empire. Unwitting, Unwilling or Undoing?
12.10 p.m.: Prof. Dr. Gunter Schubert (University of Tübingen): A new “Middle Kingdom”? Neo-imperial aspirations in China
12.50 p.m.: Prof. Dr. Jürgen Gebhardt (University of Erlangen): The American claim to world-leadership: the global politics from Wilson and Roosevelt to the semi-imperial Euro-American Transatlantic West and the post-imperial neo-isolationist retreat from Atlanticism
1.30 p.m.: Discussion
2.30 p.m.: End of Conference
Admission is free and does not require registration.
