Empires, nation-states and beyond

Conference with Sanjay Subrahmanyam, Distinguished Professor of History and Irving & Jean Stone Chair in Social Sciences at UCLA, and Paul Wormser, Senior Lecturer in Southeast Asian History at Inalco (CASE).
Zhou Enlai, Nehru, Nasser et Indira Gandhi assis
Zhou Enlai, Nehru, Nasser et Indira Gandhi en visite d'état en Birmanie en 1955 avant la conférence de Bandung. © Myanmar Photo Archive‎

In the mid-twentieth century, optimistic proponents of decolonization believed that the age of empires was coming to an end, replaced by a world of independent nation-states. This vision has now proved problematic. Not only have empires proved tenacious, but hybrid forms between the two have also been created. We will draw on examples from Asia to explore the history of these political forms in the "long twentieth century".