Rechercher

The Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Middle Eastern and North African History critically examines the defining processes and structures of historical developments in North Africa and the Middle East over the past two centuries. The Handbook pays particular attention to countries that have leapt out of the political shadows of dominant and better-studied neighbours in the course of the unfolding uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa. These dramatic and interconnected developments have exposed the dearth of informative analysis available in surveys and textbooks, particularly on Tunisia, Libya, Yemen, Bahrain and Syria

Recent debates on religious violence in the Roman empire have focused mainly on the change from a polytheistic to a monotheistic empire, ‘das Problem des Monotheismus’, as stated by the Egyptologist Jan Assmann. In the tradition of the Enlightenment, polytheism and traditional religious practices are depicted as tolerant, because their inclusive character allowed individuals to adhere freely to as many and whichever cults they desired. The associated belief-systems are generally considered to have been open and non-coercive. Even the very category of ‘belief’ has been called into question, since it was the adequate performance of the rites that mattered. New cults could always be adapted and reinterpreted in familiar terms. Since gods and spirits were conceived of mainly as local entities, the veneration of foreign gods and spirits in a foreign country would be nothing more than a polite act: when in Alexandria, do as the Alexandrians do. Finally, nothing prevented an individual with enough backers and financial means from founding his or her own shrine.

We study the effects of domestic conflict and external shocks on Spanish trade policy in the interwar period. Our account mobilizes a new granular dataset on exports and imports, and good-country level information on tariffs, trade agreements, and quotas. Into the Depression, the mainstay of policy was the tariff. The establishment of the Second Republic in 1931 was a turning point in policymaking. The new regime initiated bilateral trade negotiations. The Republic’s dilemma was to find countries willing to exchange market access. In a daunting international environment, the Spanish case offers a poignant reminder of the perils of going against the grain.

Le président Wilson a fait de l’autodétermination une clé de voûte du nouvel ordre mondial, mais le concept est appliqué de façon arbitraire lors des négociations de paix de 1919. L’Europe centrale et orientale, dont Wilson avait une connaissance très limitée, constitue à cet égard un laboratoire. Cet article s’intéresse à la formulation de la politique américaine dans cet espace à travers les travaux de l’Inquiry, le groupe d’experts chargé de penser l’après-guerre, et examine les lettres des groupes et des individus qui ont tenté d’influencer la position du président américain sur cette question.

Following the end of the First World War, a new world order emerged from the Paris Peace Conference of 1919. It was an order riddled with contradictions and problems that were only finally resolved after the Second World War. Beyond the Great War brings together a group of both well-established and younger historians who share a rejection of the dominant view of the peace process that ended the First World War. The book expands beyond the traditional focus on diplomatic and high political history to question the assumption that the Paris Peace Treaties were the progenitors of a new world order. Extending the ongoing debate about the success of the Treaty of Versailles and surrounding events, this collection approaches the heritage of the Great War through a variety of lenses: gender, race, the high politics of diplomacy, the peace movement, provision for veterans, international science, socialism, and the way the war ended. Collectively, contributors argue that the treaties were at best a mitigated success, and that the "brave new world" of 1919 cannot be separated from the Great War that preceded it.

L’intégration des perspectives d’histoire environnementale en histoire des villes a contribué à renouveler le champ de l’histoire urbaine. À travers l’examen des travaux réalisés à partir des années 2000, l’article montre les apports de l’histoire environnementale à l’histoire urbaine, en particulier au Québec.

Les archives judiciaires, notariales et paroissiales révèlent l’ampleur et la pérennité de l’esclavage infantile en Nouvelle-France. En témoignent les traces de vies d’enfants esclaves, en majorité autochtones, qui apparaissent constamment au fil des documents du xvie au xviiie siècle. Comment expliquer cet attrait quasi pédophile pour des esclaves âgés de moins de 12 ans ? À quoi les maîtres peuvent-ils bien employer des esclaves si jeunes ? Qui les « gère » au quotidien ? Quelles sont la place et les fonctions de ces jeunes asservis dans les familles esclavagistes ? Et enfin, comment cette violence répétée de l’asservissement des enfants a-t-elle été justifiée ? Par toutes ces questions qu’il soulève, ce véritable angle mort de la recherche qu’est l’esclavage infantile, éclaire d’une lumière crue, d’une part, les rapports de pouvoir à l’oeuvre dans la société coloniale et patriarcale, dont les fondements hiérarchiques sont irradiés par un faisceau de servitudes et, d’autre part, l’histoire socio-économique de la Nouvelle- France, sachant que, sous le Régime français, la majorité des foyers, qui aujourd’hui posséderait sa voiture, possédait au moins un ou une esclave.

"From the early sixteenth century, thousands of fishermen-traders from Basque, Breton, and Norman ports crossed the Atlantic each year to engage in fishing, whaling, and fur trading, which they regarded as their customary right. In the seventeenth century these rights were challenged as France sought to establish an imperial presence in North America, granting trading privileges to certain individuals and companies to enforce its territorial and maritime claims. Bitter conflicts ensued, precipitating more than two dozen lawsuits in French courts over powers and privileges in New France. In Disputing New France Helen Dewar demonstrates that empire formation in New France and state formation in France were mutually constitutive. Through its exploration of legal suits among privileged trading companies, independent traders, viceroys, and missionaries, this book foregrounds the integral role of French courts in the historical construction of authority in New France and the fluid nature of legal, political, and commercial authority in France itself. State and empire formation converged in the struggle over sea power: control over New France was a means to consolidate maritime authority at home and supervise major Atlantic trade routes. The colony also became part of international experimentations with the chartered company, an innovative Dutch and English instrument adapted by the French to realize particular strategic, political, and maritime objectives. Tracing the developing tools of governance, privilege granting, and capital formation in New France, Disputing New France offers a novel conception of empire--one that is messy and contingent, responding to pressures from within and without, and deeply rooted in metropolitan affairs."-- Provided by publisher.

The historiography on the Compagnie de la Nouvelle-France (CNF) focuses primarily on its role in the colonization of New France. By examining its form, this article resituates the CNF in the larger history of European experimentations with the joint-stock company. The liquidation of the company’s debts in the 1630s and 1640s forced associates, directors, and jurists to articulate their understanding of who was liable for the enterprise’s financial health. Evaluating the legal and moral arguments of the parties concerned, this article argues that the complexity of the liability of associates and directors resulted from the intersection of the corporate, monarchical and commercial worlds.