As part of the Global Policy Dialogues, we welcomed Prof. Dr. Eva Marlene Hausteiner from the University of Nuremberg/Erlangen on 20 January. In her lecture, she addressed the significance of empires as actors in international relations, focusing in particular on the question of how empires exercise power. She presented two methodological approaches to conceptualising empires in research: on the one hand, from an empirical perspective, which primarily describes concrete aspects of empires such as political and military power, geographical expansion, etc., and on the other hand, from a conceptual perspective, which mostly works with criteria catalogues that describe an ideal type.

After a brief discussion of the advantages and disadvantages, she opted for a third perspective, which focuses on the ideas and thoughts of empires in people’s minds. What network of ideas holds a group of people together in an empire? With questions like these and a focus on the significance of imperial attitudes, the old concept of empire can be fruitfully applied to current challenges. This impulse was discussed extensively by the fellows and guests of the Academy.