Review of the Research Institute for History and - Universiteit Utrecht

A. Documentation regarding the level of the research programme
Title of the programme:
International and Political History
Starting date:
1994
Research area and mission:
International political relations, confl ict-studies, political history (after 1600)
Programme leaders:
Prof. H. Righart (1994-1997), Prof. D. Hellema (1998-)
Affi liations outside the institute (e.g. research school) and other cooperations and relations
with national and international research groups:
Center of Confl ict Studies
School of Human Rights Research
A 1. Leadership
With 8,13 fte this is one of the smaller groups within OGC. It comprises 2 full
professors, 1 extra-ordinary professor, 3 associate professors, 9 assistant professors,
5 Postdocs, and 3 PhD-students. The programme consists of the researchers in
the History Department connected to the chairs of the History of International
Relations, and Political History. During the period under review both chairs have
changed hands. Since 1998 prof. Duco Hellema is chair in the History of International
Relations, whilst prof. Ido de Haan was appointed chair in Political History
in 2003. His predecessor prof. Hans Righart († 2002) has been programme leader
till 1998. Since then Hellema has been in charge. The two chairs have operated
more or less independently during most of the period under review, each for
instance organizing their own research seminar meetings. The current chairs are
now seriously engaged in discussions about closer cooperation. The group as a
whole is very active, with a high publication and dissertation output.
A 2. Strategy and policy
The programme has concentrated on domestic politics within European states,
particularly the Netherlands, and the international relations of those European
states on the other hand, again with an emphasis on the Netherlands. Utrecht has
a long-standing tradition in this latter fi eld. The History of International Relations
was explored in four thematic areas: 1. the development of the European state
system in the early modern era, 2. Dutch international relations in the 19 th and
20 th centuries, 3. the relations between Europe and the non-European world, and
4. humanitarian policies and the development of international norms and peaceful
cooperation.
In the past period, the programme has focused less exclusively on states as
rational-political actors (as in traditional diplomatic history). More attention has
been paid to the idealistic and humanitarian aspects of interstate relationships,
notably the developments of human rights and its bearings on the acting of states
(with a focus on Dutch human rights policy). Beside that, there was a growing
interest in sub-state relationships, notably the actions of non-governmental actors
and the impact of public opinion. These shifts of emphasis constituted an innovative
impulse within the discipline of International History and relate to similar developments
in the study of international relations within the political sciences. Research
on the issue of human rights indicates, however, that the infl uence of idealistic
OGC International and Political History
268