In this series of four lectures, the Elihu Professor of History and Global Affairs at Yale, Odd Arne Westad, discusses the concept of empire and why it is still relevant today. 

Even if the Europeans had deemed the 19th century a “long peace”, the world had changed tremendously between 1800 and 1900. Of the 1800 powers only a few remained strong, and they were all European. But, at the same time, the concept of empire was changing, and new forms of anti-imperial resistance was starting to grow. This third lecture will discuss high imperialisms, their relationship to globalising capitalism, and how a destabilised European world initiated the tragedies of the 20th century.

Meet our speaker and chair

Odd Arne Westad is the Engelsberg Chair for 2020/21 at LSE IDEAS. He is currently the Elihu Professor of History and Global Affairs at Yale, and is a former director of LSE IDEAS.

Christopher Coker is Director of LSE IDEAS.

More about this event

A podcast of the first lecture can be found at Empires Past & Present: the idea of empire.

The second lecture, Empires Past and Present: empire around 1800, took place on 26 January, a podcast is available.

LSE IDEAS (@lseideas) is LSE's foreign policy think tank. We connect academic knowledge of diplomacy and strategy with the people who use it.

Twitter Hashtag for this event: #LSEEngelsberg

Podcast & Video

A podcast of this event is available to download from Empires Past and Present: empire around 1900

A video of this event is available to watch at Empires Past and Present: empire around 1900

Podcasts and videos of many LSE events can be found at the LSE Public Lectures and Events: podcasts and videos channel.