Friday 9 and Saturday 10 May 2008
at the History Faculty, the Maison française d’Oxford and the European Studies Centre
An inter-disciplinary workshop jointly sponsored by the Modern History Faculty (Commonwealth History
Research Seminar), the European Studies Centre, the Maison française d’Oxford and the European
Research Group
Convenors: Jan-Georg Deutsch, Judith M. Brown, John Darwin, Kalypso Nicolaidis, Berny Sèbe, Rahul Rao
PROGRAMME
Friday 9 May:
Morning: Modern History Faculty, Old Boys’ School, George Street
Afternoon: Maison française d’Oxford, 2-10 Norham Road
9.15 am Welcome by conference organisers
9.20 – 10.15 am Opening statement
John Darwin (History, Oxford)
Echoes of Imperialism: A Research agenda
10.15 – 10.30 am Tea and biscuits
10.30 am – 12.45 Session 1 – European Imperialisms: The Present of the Past
Kalypso Nicolaïdis (Politics & IR, Oxford) and Juri Viehoff (Politics & IR, Oxford)
Echoes or Transcendence? From Standards of Civilisation to EU Conditionality
Luisa Pinto Teixeira (History, Camões Institute Portuguese Centre, Oxford)
Hidden Empire: memory in the making of a Lusophone world
Jean-Frédéric Schaub (History, EHESS, Maison française d’Oxford)
Monarquía, imperio, república, repúblicas: Latin American and its imperial past
Cha ir an d d isc us san t: B ern y Sè be (H isto ry, D u rham Un iv ersity an d Ma iso n fran ç aise d ’O xfo rd)
12.45 – 1.00 pm Participants walk to the Maison française d’Oxford
1.00 – 1.45 pm Buffet lunch at the Maison française d’Oxford
1.45 – 3.30 pm Session 2 – Colonialism and modernity in Africa and in Asia
Jan-Georg Deutsch (History, Oxford)
Colonialism and Modernity in Africa
Dane Kennedy (History, George Washington University, Washington DC)
Empires and the Parasitism of British Exploration in Africa
Yasmin Khan (History, Royal Holloway, University of London)
Nehruvian modernity and the decolonization of the South Asian state
Chair: Rahul Rao (Politics & IR, Oxford)
Discussant: Jean-Pascal Daloz (Political science, Maison française d’Oxford)
3.30 – 3.45 pm Tea and biscuits
3.45 – 5.30 pm Session 3 – Sea-borne imperial visions
Christopher Harding (History, University of Edinburgh)
‘A Dagger At Our Backs’:
Self-Defence, Self-Cultivation, and the Question of Modern Japanese Imperialism
Berny Sèbe (History, Durham University and Maison française d’Oxford)
‘Civilising miss ion’ vs ‘Gentlemanly capitalism’?
The French empire against the gauge of its more successful British counterpart
Alessandro Triulzi (University of Naples)
Italian perspectives on Empire
Chair: Jan-Georg Deutsh (History, Oxford)
Discussant: Dereck Duncan (Cultural Studies, Department of Italian, Bristol)
Saturday 10 May
European Studies Centre, 70 Woodstock Road
9.00 – 10.45 am Session 4 – Land-based imperial visions
Alexander Morrison (University of Liverpool)
Between western universalism and eastern practices: the Russian Empire
Nora Onar (Politics & IR, Oxford)
Echoes of a universalism lost:
Rival representations of the Ottomans in contemporary Turkey
Rana Mitter (Oriental Institute, Oxford)
Imperial China
Chair: Judith Brown (History, Oxford)
Discussant: John Darwin (History, Oxford)
10.45 – 11.15 am Tea and biscuits
11.15 am – 1.00 pm Session 5 – Imperial legacies in the EU project
Dimitar Bechev (Politics & IR, Oxford)
From myths of empire to EU hegemony
Robert Howse (Politics & IR, University of Michigan Law School)
European imperialism, Kojeve and the global trade agenda
Hartmut Pogge von Strandmann (History, Oxford)
German colonial history and post-war development policies
Chair and discussant: Kalypso Nicolaidis (Politics & IR, Oxford)
1.00 – 2.00 pm Lunch
2.00 – 3.45 pm Session 6 – The post-colonial agenda : A normative panel
Rahul Rao (Politics & IR, Oxford)
Postcolonial Cosmopolitanism: then and now
Ali Parchami (History and IR, Sandhurst Royal Military Academy)
The abuse of history: the normative effect of Pax Romana on modern imperial thought
Robert Young (English and Comparative Literature, New York University)
From the Anti-colonial Movements to the New Social Movements
Chair: Dane Kennedy (History, George Washington University, Washington DC)
Discussant: Taraq Barqawi (Political science, Centre of International Studies, Cambridge)
3.45 – 4.30 pm Concluding remarks
Jacques Frémeaux (History, University of Paris IV)
Andrew Thompson (History, University of Leeds)
4.30 – 5.00 pm Tea and biscuits
Workshop aims
Oxford University’s Modern History Faculty, the European Studies Centre, and the Maison française d’Oxford
are convening an inter-disciplinary workshop on Echoes of European imperialisms in comparative
perspective. Its core aims are to bring together specialists of different areas or ‘empires’ as well as historians
and political scientists from Oxford and beyond, to encourage better synergies between imperial history and
area studies and discuss the relevance of imperial history to today’s global affairs. We believe one of the
ways to achieve this is by ‘de-centering’ our understanding of imperialism from the ‘centre’ to the
‘peripheries’ and identifying differences and similarities in ‘colonial’ patterns of relationships between
peoples and states then and now. The workshop is an integral part of the Commonwealth History Research
Seminar and will link this seminar with the project ‘Re-Thinking Europe in a Non-European World’ led by
the European Studies Centre.
Research about nineteenth and twentieth century imperialisms has suffered from two major shortcomings.
First, it has narrowly focussed on imperial traditions based upon the history of the nation-state at the expense
of a broader vision acknowledging the shared features of a phenomenon that swept through Europe at
approximately the same time and against the same world historical backdrop. Secondly, historiography has
all too often been Eurocentric. It has thus tended to overlook both the reciprocal effects of the contact
between European and non-European worlds that colonial practice inevitably brought about, and the
peripheral, non-European imperialisms which remain misrepresented or ignored.
The conference will address these issues comparatively across different European imperial traditions and link
them to present concerns. A ‘decentered’ approach implies examining both non-European forms of
imperialism and European imperialisms from a non-European perspective. To what extent were imperialisms
originating in Europe based upon the same political and social principles and practices? How did European
colonial theories and practices compare with their Chinese, Japanese or Ottoman counterparts? What is the
impact of imperial legacies on today’s international relations and more particularly on the principles and
workings of the EU? How can the global study of European empires provide a better understanding of current
discourses and practices, including that of Europe as a ‘normative power’? And normatively, what would a
truly post-colonial approach to global affairs look like today?
Through this workshop, the convenors hope to initiate a dialogue that will continue in the years to come and
foster cross-disciplinary debates about the colonial and post-colonial condition. By combining their tools of
enquiry and sharing their research agendas, historians and political scientists can hopefully better tackle
what remains a highly sensitive and contested episode of human history.
Sessions
Session 1 – European Imperialisms: The Present of the Past
Contemporary inquiries brought about by globalisation have tended to cast a shadow on the main
assumptions of post-modern and post-colonial thinking. However, only a few decades have elapsed since the
demise of the European empires which blossomed in the nineteenth century and it is arguable that the legacy
of colonial times remains palpable in post-colonial Euro-American initiatives, as well as in the reaction of the
former colonised peoples to these initiatives. The third and fourth papers, which expand the timeline of the
workshop in order to include the case of Latin America, consider the long-lasting influence of Portuguese
and Spanish imperialism on countries which have been independent from mainland Europe for nearly two
centuries. They provide examples which will complement those of the second panel.
Session 2 – Colonialism and modernity in Africa and in Asia
Colonial rule projected directly African and Asian colonies from a pre-industrial stage to the post-colonial
era; imperialism therefore appeared as a powerful agent of modernity in most of these former colonies. The
three papers intend to analyse the ideas, practices and concepts of modernity in former colonies which
(unlike the British Dominions) left the Western world at independence. Not only do they intend to
summarize the impact of the colonial past on two continents which display non-European identities, but they
also place into context the meanings of the ‘post-colonial’ and ‘post-modern’ concepts.
Session 3 – Sea-borne imperial visions
Session 4 – Land-based imperial visions
By adopting an approach based on the geographical modus operandi rather than the classic distinction
between European and non-European empires, the third and fourth panels intend to radically ‘de-centre’ the
study of imperialism and evaluate to what extent colonial projects and practices were dictated as much by
factors internal to the conquering power as by the conditions that prevailed in the conquered territory.
Presenters will be invited to bear in mind the following questions when producing their papers:
1) Is there genuinely a pan-European idea of imperialism?
2) Is there a distinctively European tradition of imperialism?
3) Were there fundamental differences between land-based and sea-borne empires?
Session 5 – Imperial legacies in the EU project
This panel will draw on the preceding ones and confront their insights with an analysis of the EU’s policies
and narratives today. It will ask to what extent the EU still carries within itself the “colonial DNA” of some of
its member states or to what extent on the contrary it has been able to transcend these imperial legacies.
Alternatively, since structures of power asymmetries are a given in our world order, are certain patterns of
hierarchical relationship inevitable irrespective of a colonial past? And what is the impact of the difference in
legacies present in the different member states?
Session 6 – The post-colonial agenda: A normative panel
This panel will explore the normative constitution of the ideas and practices of imperialism and resistance
thereto. What sorts of normative influences do imperialisms of the past exert on those of the present?
Similarly, does the normative thinking of earlier resistances to imperialism have any bearing on
contemporary struggles and movements?

• Eurostar links up with First Great Western and National Express East Anglia to offer through fares to Paris, Brussels and beyond – return tickets from just £67
  Existing partners First Capital Connect, Chiltern Railways and East Midlands Trains extend number of stations with through fares
  Eurostar travellers from UK regions up by 45% in the first quarter of 2008

Eurostar, the international high-speed train operator, and the Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC) today (Tuesday 6 May 200 announced that over 130 British towns and cities now have through fares to mainland Europe.

Travellers can now obtain through fares from a further 65 stations across Britain to mainland Europe, on top of the first phase of 68 towns and cities offering through fares since 14 November 2007, the date when Eurostar launched 186mph services on High Speed 1 from St Pancras International.

Through fares are helping to drive up demand for Eurostar, with the number of Eurostar journeys by travellers living in the UK regions outside London increasing by an average of  45% in the first quarter of 2008.

First Great Western and National Express East Anglia are Eurostar’s latest through-fare partners, taking the total number of partnerships with domestic train operators to nine.

Examples of the new lowest standard return fares, fastest journey times, and frequency of connecting services include:

Brighton–Brussels / Paris: £71 return – journey times 3h55 / 4h20; frequencies 8 / 14
Oxford–Brussels / Paris: £69 return – journey times 4h35 / 4h30; frequencies 9 / 15
Ipswich–Brussels / Paris: £77 return – journey times 4h20 / 4h40; frequencies 8 / 13
Bath–Brussels / Paris: £79 return – journey times 4h55 / 5h10; frequencies 7 /12
Bristol–Brussels / Paris: £79 return – journey times 5h05 / 5h20; frequencies 8 / 13
High Wycombe–Brussels / Paris: £70 return – journey times 3h40 / 4h05; frequencies 8 / 13

(For travel to Disneyland ® Resort Paris, and to any station in Belgium, the lowest fares are the same price as for Brussels / Paris.)

First Capital Connect has extended through fares to 11 more towns including Brighton; Chiltern Railways to a further 15 towns, and East Midlands Trains has added Loughborough to its stations with through fares.

Rail travel to the Continent is often as quick or quicker and more convenient than going by air. Travellers avoid the cost and time of getting to and from out-of-town airports because trains go city-centre to city-centre. With Eurostar, check-in is just 30 minutes (10 minutes for Business Premier travellers), the journey is carbon neutral and far less environmentally damaging than flying, and there is no waiting for baggage reclaim because travellers keep their luggage with them. Service frequency is greater than regional airlines, and unlike many air fares, through fares have no extra booking fees or taxes.

Simon Montague, Director of Communications for Eurostar, said: “With Eurostar’s move to St Pancras International and with through fares at prices as good as or better than those offered by regional airlines, millions more UK residents have much greater choice in they way they travel to the Continent.

“The increasing numbers of UK travellers choosing to travel to mainland Europe by rail shows that a clear shift is occurring, with more and more people regarding the train as a better option.”

David Mapp, Commercial Director of ATOC, said: “This is a further important step in integrating Britain’s rail network with that of continental Europe. The new through fares offer exceptional value for money and should help make rail the natural choice for journeys to Paris, Brussels and beyond.”

Through fares from over 130 British towns and cities to Paris, Brussels and Disneyland Resort® Paris are available from www.eurostar.com and on 08705 186 186 and start from £67 standard return. Travellers can also book through fares to over 75 destinations across France; any station in Belgium; Dutch destinations including Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Schipol and The Hague; and Aachen and Cologne in Germany.

Through fares are available up to 84 days in advance, in line with domestic train operators’ normal booking horizons.

1 Eurostar is the high-speed train service linking St Pancras International, Ebbsfleet International, Ashford International, Paris, Brussels, Lille, Calais, Disneyland Resort Paris, Avignon and the French Alps.

2. Eurostar now has through fares deals with First Great Western, National Express East Anglia, First Capital Connect, Virgin Trains, National Express East Coast, East Midlands Trains, London Midland, Chiltern Railways and Hull Trains.

3. Ebbsfleet International in north Kent is close to junction 2 of the M25 and Bluewater shopping centre, and lies at the heart of a catchment of 10 million people. It offers seven trains a day to Paris and five a day to Brussels, with ample parking and taxi and Avis car hire facilities. Eurostar travellers can also connect with the station for free on Southeastern train services and Fastrack buses.

4. Ashford International in Kent provides three services a day to Paris, a daily service to Disneyland Resort Paris and seasonal weekly services to the French Alps and Avignon. The station provides ample parking and connects with domestic rail services.

5. Independent research has shown that a Eurostar journey between London and Paris generates one-tenth of the carbon dioxide produced by an equivalent flight. Under its Tread Lightly initiative, Eurostar has set a target of further reducing its CO₂ emissions by 25% per traveller journey by 2012. Eurostar is the world’s first train operator to make all journeys carbon neutral.

6. Eurostar and Friends of the Earth are working together in the UK on Eurostar’s Tread Lightly initiative and The Big Ask, Friends of the Earth’s climate campaign. To find out more about Friends of the Earth or The Big Ask please click here www.friendsoftheearth.co.uk

7. Eurostar is a founder member of Railteam, a partnership between Europe’s leading high-speed train operators that is developing simpler ways to book and travel on the fast-expanding, European high-speed rail network.

8. Eurostar and Eurotunnel are entirely separate companies.  Eurostar operates high-speed passenger trains, while Eurotunnel operates a vehicle shuttle service and the Channel tunnel itself. Eurostar is Eurotunnel’s biggest customer.

9. To book through fares via Eurostar, or to find out more information, go to www.eurostar.com or call 08705 186 186.

Chiltern Railways in partnership with Eurostar, the international high-speed operator, announced today the expansion of through fares from 15 new Chiltern Railways stations to Paris, Brussels, Lille, Disneyland ® Resort Paris and 100 other destinations across mainland Europe

Passengers can now buy great value-for-money through fares to the Continent from just £65 return travelling from Banbury, Kings Sutton, Bicester North, Haddenham, Princes Risborough, Saunderton, High Wycombe, Beaconsfield, Seer Green, Gerrards Cross, Denham, Aylesbury, Stoke Mandeville, Wendover and Great Missenden stations.

There are up to 13 connecting services to Paris a day and up to eight connecting services a day to Brussels. Total journey times are from only 3 hours 30 minutes (includes London Underground transfers between Marylebone station and St Pancras International and a 30 minute Eurostar check-in).

Passengers have been able to buy through fares to travel to the Continent from Birmingham Moor Street, Solihull, Warwick Parkway, Warwick and Leamington Spa since 14 November 2007.

The number of Eurostar journeys by travellers living in Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Warwickshire increased by at least a third in the first quarter of 2008, compared with the same period a year ago.

For Chiltern Railway passengers, through fares include transfer on London Underground from Marylebone station to St Pancras International at no extra cost, and offer travellers a guarantee that they will be put on the next available train, if there is a late running service in either direction. Unlike many air fares, with through fares there are no booking fees or taxes.

Peter Owen, Marketing Director at Chiltern Railways said:  “The train is now the easier and much more pleasant way to get to Europe and these new through tickets make it easier still.  What’s more there are some bargains to be found!

“We’re delighted to expand this ‘one fare’ option to 15 new stations.  It gives our passengers the chance to take up these great savings and explore the Continent by train.”

Simon Montague, Director of Communications for Eurostar, said: “With Eurostar’s move to St Pancras International and the introduction of through fares with prices as good as or better than those offered by regional airlines, millions more UK residents now have a much greater choice in they way they travel to the Continent.

“The increasing numbers of UK travellers choosing to travel to mainland Europe by rail indicates that a clear shift is occurring, with people no longer seeing short-haul air travel as their best or only option.”

Through fares from 20 Chiltern Railways-served stations to Paris, Brussels, Disneyland ® Resort Paris are available at www.eurostar.com or on 08705 186 186 and start from just £65 return. Travellers can also book through tickets to over 75 other destinations across France; any station in Belgium; Dutch destinations including Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Schipol and The Hague; and Aachen and Cologne in Germany.

Through-fares are available 84 days in advance, in line with Chiltern Railways booking horizons

Ends

Notes to Editors:

New Chiltern Railways served stations: lowest return through fares and fastest journey times (including a 40 minute transfer between Marylebone station and St Pancras International and a 30 minute Eurostar check-in) are as follows:

Aylesbury to Paris/Brussels: £72 return, journey times 4h35 / 4h 15

Banbury to Paris/Brussels: £74 return, journey times 4h40 / 4h30

Beaconsfield to Paris/Brussels: £69 return, journey times 4h00/ 3h35

Bicester North to Paris/Brussels: £74 return, journey times 4h35/ 4h15

Denham to Paris/Brussels: £65 return, journey times 4h00 / 3h45

Gerrards Cross to Paris/Brussels: £67 return, journey times 3h55 / 3h30

Great Missenden to Paris/Brussels: £67 return, journey times 4h20 / 4h00

Haddenham to Paris/Brussels: £74 return, journey times 4h20 / 4h05

High Wycombe to Paris/Brussels: £70 return, journey times 4h05 / 3h40

Kings Sutton to Paris/Brussels: £74 return, journey times 4h50 / 4h30

Princes Risborough to Paris/Brussels: £72 return, journey times 4h15 / 3h55

Saunderton to Paris/Brussels: £71 return, journey times 4h25 / 4h00

Seer Green to Paris/Brussels: £69 return, journey times 4h10 / 3h55

Stoke Mandeville to Paris/Brussels: £71 return, journey times 4h30 / 4h10

Wendover to Paris/Brussels: £70 return, journey times 4h25 / 4h05

(Lowest through fares to Disneyland Resort Paris, and to any station in Belgium, the lowest fares are the same price as for Paris and Brussels.)

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