The Roosevelt Institute for American Studies 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
Founded as the official journal of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations (SHAFR), Diplomatic History is a leading venue for scholarship on the United States in the world. The journal’s 50th anniversary offers an opportunity to reflect on the field’s evolution and to chart new directions through a series of special issues published in 2027.
Workshop Focus: European Perspectives
The RIAS is partnering with DH to convene a workshop centered on 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 welcome papers across the full chronological range of U.S. diplomatic history, from the early republic to the present. Comparative work bridging U.S. and European contexts is especially encouraged.
Themes
This workshop will address the above-mentioned questions through research examining (but not limited to):
- Security: 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
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 the complete thematic scope and intellectual framework (including prompts and framing questions), please consult the full Call for Papers (PDF). The PDF also includes details on workshop format, publication timeline, and travel grants.
For any further questions about the event and the DH special issue, please contact the organizers at info@roosevelt.nl.
Workshop Organizers
Gaetano Di Tommaso (RIAS)
Dario Fazzi (RIAS / Leiden University)
