International Conference: "Mapping Empires. Patterns Past and Present"

07. November-08. November 2025 / 13.00 - 13.00 / LMU München

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.