The Roosevelt Institute for American Studies (RIAS) invites proposals for a workshop that will lead to a special issue of Diplomatic History (DH) marking the journal’s fiftieth anniversary in 2027. We welcome proposals from scholars at all career stages exploring European perspectives on the United States’ global interactions, broadly conceived.
Diplomatic History’s 50th Anniversary
Diplomatic History, the official journal of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations (SHAFR) and the leading outlet for scholarship on America’s global entanglements, will mark its fiftieth anniversary in 2027. Over the past half-century, DH has become a focal point for field-defining historiographical debates, vibrant methodological reflections, and innovative research. Its appeal has long transcended the boundaries of the United States, attracting contributors and readers from a wide range of disciplines, including American Studies, international economics, security studies, and global and area studies. Generations of historians have used its pages to debate trends and directions, concepts and approaches, and the theories and practices that shape historical inquiry. Through the years, DH has become a key point of reference for historians worldwide, offering a forum through which they have navigated the discipline’s major interpretive turns – from debates over ideology and national interest in the Cold War era, through cultural and transnational approaches, to contemporary intersectional and planetary frameworks that interrogate power, identity, and environmental change.
The journal’s fiftieth anniversary presents an opportunity not only to celebrate DH’s achievements but also to critically assess its future directions, particularly in light of its growing global reach. To this end, the journal’s editorial board is launching and co-sponsoring a series of initiatives that will culminate in a set of special issues throughout 2027. Collectively, these issues will reflect upon and evaluate the evolution of the scholarship that DH has helped to shape and disseminate. One of the central aims of this effort is to showcase the breadth, complexity, and diversity of the field, and to highlight how diplomatic history has evolved into a collaborative, multinational, and multicultural enterprise for understanding the transformations of world affairs.
Workshop Focus: European Perspectives
The RIAS is partnering with DH to organize a workshop that will center European perspectives on the history of U.S. global power. By “European perspectives,” we mean research that draws on European archives and sources, examines European actors and their interactions with the United States, and/or engages with European interpretive frameworks and historiographical traditions. While we expect most participants to be based in Europe, we welcome proposals from scholars working on European dimensions of U.S. diplomatic history regardless of their current institutional location.
This workshop asks: What does it mean to study the United States in/and the world from a European vantage point? What can European voices, sources, and actors contribute to the historical understanding of America’s rise and its relative decline? What roles have transnational crossings and, more specifically, transatlantic exchanges played in defining, contesting, or renegotiating American ascendancy? How might European interpretive frameworks help to further decenter narratives of U.S. global interactions while simultaneously illuminating broader global developments?
We are interested in papers that address these questions across the full chronological range of U.S. diplomatic history, from the early republic to the contemporary era. Comparative analyses that bridge U.S. and European contexts are particularly welcome.
Themes
This workshop will address the above-mentioned questions through research examining (but not limited to):
- Security theories and practices: analyses of transatlantic security cooperation, threat perceptions, intelligence sharing, military alliances (such as NATO), and divergent strategic cultures between the U.S. and European states.
- Economic integration and nationalism: studies of trade relations, monetary cooperation, investment flows, economic competition, and tensions between transatlantic economic integration and nationalist or protectionist impulses.
- Liberal and illiberal democratic developments: examinations of how the U.S. and European nations have influenced each other’s democratic institutions, civil society movements, authoritarian challenges, and debates over liberal internationalism.
- Environmental movements, ecological institutions, climate challenges, and planetary change: histories of transatlantic environmental diplomacy, competing approaches to conservation and climate policy, and the role of scientific and activist networks in shaping environmental governance.
- Tranatlantic social, cultural, and political crossings: Research on migration flows, cultural diplomacy programs, educational exchanges, institutional partnerships, transnational activist networks, and the circulation of people, ideas, and practices across the Atlantic.
- Perceptions of American power and anti-Americanism: Historical analyses of how European publics, intellectuals, and policymakers have understood, celebrated, or contested U.S. influence, including analyses of anti-American movements, cultural critiques of Americanization, and shifting European attitudes toward American leadership.
- Historiographical trends and turns in transatlantic relations: critical assessments of how European and American historians have interpreted U.S. foreign relations differently, and how scholarly debates have evolved across national and disciplinary boundaries.
Practical Information
Key dates:
- Abstract deadline: 16 January, 2026
- Notification of acceptance: mid-February 2026
- Draft papers due: 30 June, 2026
- Workshop: 27-28 August, 2026 (Middelburg, the Netherlands)
- Final papers due: 30 September, 2026
Draft papers:
Selected participants will be asked to submit draft papers by 30 June, 2026. Research papers should be 8,000–10,000 words; historiographical essays should be 10,000–12,000 words. These drafts should be as close as possible to final form to allow for thorough discussion during the workshop. The workshop will be structured as a collaborative working session, with participants circulating papers in advance and engaging in detailed discussion and revision during the two-day event.
The event:
The RIAS will cover two nights’ accommodation in Middelburg and provide meals during the workshop. A limited number of travel grants are available for PhD researchers and early-career, non-tenured scholars (details below).
Travel grants:
We offer a limited travel-grant program to support the participation of PhD researchers and early-career, non-tenured scholars. If you are interested in applying for a travel grant, please include in your submission a brief description of your current status and an estimated travel budget. Priority in distributing available grants will be given to individuals from underfunded institutions or countries, as well as those from groups that have historically faced systemic barriers in academia. Applicants will be notified about travel grant decisions at the time of acceptance. The grant, with a maximum amount of €250, will be provided as reimbursement after the event to cover train or flight ticket costs exclusively.
Publication process:
Following the workshop, a selection of papers will be revised for submission to the special issue of Diplomatic History. Selected papers will undergo the journal’s standard peer-review process. While we aim to support all participants in developing publishable work, not all workshop papers will necessarily be included in the final special issue.
Commitment to Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion
The RIAS is committed to fostering an inclusive scholarly community. We particularly encourage proposals that reflect the diversity of our field across gender, ethnicity, disability, career stage, and institutional background. We recognize that excellent scholarship comes from diverse perspectives and experiences, and we are committed to creating a workshop environment that welcomes and supports all participants.
How to Apply
Send your 500-word abstract and CV to info@roosevelt.nl by 16 January, 2026. The abstract should clearly articulate your research question, historiographical framing, sources, and argument. If you are applying for a travel grant, please also include a brief description of your current career status and estimated travel costs.
For questions about the workshop and the DH special issue, please contact the workshop organizers at info@roosevelt.nl.
Workshop Organizers
Gaetano Di Tommaso (RIAS)
Dario Fazzi (RIAS / Leiden University)
