Workshop: Political Economy of Empire
- Date
- 25 August 2026, 09:00–16:30
- Location
- Ekonomikum, H425
- Type
- Workshop
- Organiser
- Anders Ögren
- Contact person
- Anders Ögren
- Language
- English
The theme is ‘Political Economy of Empire’, inspired by Professor Steven Pincus’ (Chicago University) new book on the British empire that will be released by Yale University Press next year.
The theme ‘Political Economy of Empire’ is to be understood broadly. The fundamental question is: why do nation states seek to become imperial states? Oftentimes, the answer involves political economy. In this one-day workshop, we bring together scholars working on the political economy during the early modern period. Recognizing that there are many types of empires and many types of political economies, we look forward to discussing how early modern thinkers envisioned the formation and management of empire and the ideological debates it sparked.
Preliminary program
9.00-9.10: Welcome by Anders, Carl, Danila & Nathalie
09.10-10.10: Political Economy of Empire. Chair Carl Wennerlind
- Steven Pincus: Making a Global Empire: Interpretative Approaches
10.10-10.30: Coffee
10.30-11.50: 2 Presentations
- Danila Raskov (Uppsala University) Commerce, Improvement and Property: Some Humble Notes on Grotius, Locke and the Political Economy of Empire
- Patrik Winton (Örebro University) Political Economy of Empire in Sweden, c. 1715-1790
11.50 13.00: lunch
13.00-14:20: Population and Slavery. Chair Danila Raskov
- Carl Wennerlind (Barnard College) The Politics of Slavery in the Debate about Capitalism
- Nathalie Le Bouteillec (Université Picardie Jules Verne – CURAPP and INED) Population as National strength: The political project of Tabellverket (population statistics) during the 'Age of Liberty'
Coffee 14.20-14.40
14.40-16.00: Money, Banking and Fiscality. Chair Nathalie Le Bouteillec
- Anders Ögren (Uppsala University) Banking and Empire: The foundation and business of Stockholm Banco (1656-1664) and the Bank of the Diets (Rikets Ständers Bank, 1668 -)
- Xavier Chirinos (Örebro University) A Multitude of Treasuries and Monies: Making Imperial Fiscal Capacity through Lima’s Main Treasury, 1790–1820.
16.00-16.20: Sum up. Chair Anders Ögren
Other registered participants:
Ann-Kristin Bergquist (Uppsala University)
Marius Liebald (Uppsala University)
Sadie Williams (Uppsala University)
Göran Rydén (Uppsala University)
Peter Ericsson (Swedish Defence University)
Måns Jansson (Uppsala University)
Federico Gutiérrez Naranjo (Uppsala University)
Margareta Hunt (Uppsala University)
Anyone interested in joining this workshop is welcome to contact Anders Ögren anders.ogren@ekhist.uu.se