{"id":24,"date":"2018-09-05T04:41:39","date_gmt":"2018-09-05T02:41:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/side.parallel.jp\/chir\/?p=24"},"modified":"2018-10-07T03:35:28","modified_gmt":"2018-10-07T01:35:28","slug":"excerpt-of-history-of-the-chir-from-brunello-vigezzis-general-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/side.parallel.jp\/chir\/excerpt-of-history-of-the-chir-from-brunello-vigezzis-general-report\/","title":{"rendered":"Excerpt of History of the CHIR, from Brunello Vigezzi’s General Report"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Sydney, 2005)<\/strong>
\n\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

With a quarter of a century behind it, our Commission of the History of International Relations can now I feel rightly claim its own history \u2013 a complex history that it would be interesting to reconstruct.
\nLooking back at the formal setting up of the Commission in Milan (1981), re-reading the series of our Newsletters and taking a look at the archives of the Commission that have now been reorganised by our secretariat, I have been confirmed in my view \u2013 reinforced by following the traces of my own memory \u2013 that the Commission has its own real history which, as often happens,\u00a0 risks falling into oblivion. Which would be a shame!<\/p>\n

*\u00a0\u00a0 *\u00a0\u00a0 *<\/p>\n

Our history, I believe, leads us quite naturally to ask some general questions.
\nWhat has been the role of our Commission over the course of the last 25 years?
\nIn 1994, more than ten years ago, when Ren\u00e8 Girault gave up his position, he sent out a circular in which he put forward a proposal that some of you will perhaps remember.
\nThe commission had been set up with the aim of \u201cfaire reconna\u00eetre la sp\u00e9cificit\u00e9 de nos recherches par l\u2019ensemble des historiens\u201d. Girault obviously wished to avoid creating a distance between the history of international relations and the broader field of the historical disciplines; and indeed the Commission has followed him in this. However, the ambit of our research \u2013 its methods, problems, periodisation and the connections between \u201cparticular\u201d stories and \u201cgeneral\u201d history \u2013 could have better motivated and defined and examined in more depth.
\nGirault saw the overall balance as satisfactory, and essentially the growth of the Commission had corresponded closely to the growth of the discipline (understood in its broadest sense).
\n\u201cLa Commission a aujourd\u2019hui pleinement atteint sa majorit\u00e9; comme on peut constater par la lecture de la Newsletter. Non seulement en Europe, premier lieu de nos rassemblements mais dans le vaste monde, les historiens des relations internationales sont maintenant connus et reconnus\u2026\u201d
\nGirault\u2019s assessment was perhaps rather on the optimistic side. But one point seems to me to be important and beyond question. The commission has been an integral part of the discipline, and in its own very special way it has shared its experience and its fortunes.
\nIndeed, with its 20 conferences and relative publications and with its capacity to engage with subjects of great importance, the commission has made a generous and significant contribution. But, in my opinion, at the same time the Commission has faced the extraordinary difficulty of constructing and maintaining a world-wide organisation of the study of the \u201chistory\u201d (and, one could say, the \u201ctheory\u201d) of international relations.
\nOne can \u2013 I think \u2013 find the meaning of our Commission\u2019s history by moving in this direction. The subject is substantial \u2013 and would be a good one for a graduation thesis! But to stay within our own circle and to keep the subject within the limits I have set, I would just like to indicate some pointers that might then give rise to an immediate discussion.
\nOver the course of the years the Commission has acquired about 500 members from 40 different countries. On closer examination, however, extreme oscillations and discontinuities become evident. The members from some countries belong for a period, and then leave. Others have joined or re-joined. Some countries (I am thinking of Germany, Japan and Brazil) have perhaps been more continuous in their membership; but then, even in these cases, the \u201cnational\u201d dimension is predominant. Does the Commission thus reflect the fact that the study of the history of international relations still retains a very clear \u201cnational\u201d imprint? The \u201cnational\u201d imprint, of course, can vary a lot (and it not necessarily tinged with nationalism) but the fact remains.
\nThe subject could be addressed from another angle of vision. It is well not to forget that the choice of themes for our General Assembly from 1985 to now has been particularly significant. One need only look at the list: What is the History of International Relations?<\/em>; Great and Small Powers in Modern and Contemporary Ages<\/em>; Les Archives des organisations <\/em>internationale<\/em>. Le point de <\/em>vue<\/em> de <\/em>l\u2019historien<\/em> et <\/em>du<\/em> archivist<\/em>; International Relations in the Pacific Area from the 18th Century to the Present. Colonisation, Decolonisation and Cultural Encounters; Multiculturalism and The History of International Relations from the 18th Century up to the Present; Globalisation and Regionalisation and the History of International Relations; The Formation of the Images of the Peoples and the History of International Relations from the 18th Century up to the Present <\/em>\u2013 and today our Assembly here in Sydney on the subject: What\u2019s new in the History and Theory of International relations after 1989?<\/em><\/p>\n

On these occasions, scholars from a variety of different countries discussed and worked together, but the initiatives failed to have the lasting consequences one might expect. Our conferences – all our conferences, together with the ensuing publications \u2013 have been intense meeting points (more than once with important scientific results). But the subsequent \u201ccirculation of ideas\u201d within the Commission has been scant and episodic. Even internal communication about teaching, or ongoing research has always been arduous.
\nThe attempts \u2013 this too needs to be considered \u2013 have been quite numerous, and also not without effect. In the mid-1990s, when the Newsletter was at the height of its effectiveness, members belonging to 100 Universities annually registered 250 courses on the history of international relations, 500 publications, 250 works in progress. Of course, the newsletter was not simply a bibliographical bulletin on the subject. \u201cNews\u201d meant members\u2019 studies and initiatives: they were a sign of the activity of the Commission. At the same time, particular survey, such as those collected under the title, \u201cOther initiatives\u201d started to catch on, albeit timidly, and expanded the pool of common experience. From this point of view the decision to discontinue the Newsletter and the move into the world of the Internet have forced us to start from scratch; we now have to invent new forms of communication which at the moment, it must be recognised, we have yet to find. I shall come back to this point later. But in the meantime, if we reconsider the history of the Commission, we would have to recognise that its whole activity, despite everything, reflects the limits that I have tried to point out. The inquiry could be continued. The responsibility of the members, the bureau and the Commission is beyond question and needs to be understood better. But I maintain that the problem is much broader.
\nThe point is often made that the world is becoming ever more interdependent. Communication develops at vertiginous speed. But at the same time, separate worlds continue to exist. One could say that our Commission, in its own field, has experienced this directly (and continues to do so). On the other hand, the same\u00a0 phenomenon (or rather, a phenomenon of the same nature) can be found in our relations with CISH, the International Committee of Historical Sciences which organises the\u00a0 world congresses and to which we belong.
\nAn internal Commission since 1982, our Commission became an affiliated Commission in 1997, with the same right to vote as the national committees. So, in May 2001 meeting in Milan, our Bureau decided to propose the subject of \u201cthe Organization of Peace and the History\u00a0 of International Relations from ancient times to the present day\u201d as one of our Major Themes for the World Congress in Sydney. The result we have achieved (also with the collaboration of other\u00a0 commissions) has definitely been flattering, both because the theme has been adopted and because of the ample cooperation which was requested of us when setting up and organising the work. But again in this case I would argue that reservations are in place, for reasons closely connected to the argument I have put forward thus far. In Milan, in the event of our request being accepted, we felt that the great theme of peace might involve the members of our commission more directly. At the meeting of the Paris Bureau in April 2004 we took up the question again. But the initiative of CISH, the treatment of the theme of peace at the congress, despite everything, remained something separate from the internal life of our Commission. Our work in Sydney on peace will perhaps lead to a further look at the theme, or even produce a publication on the initiative of the Commission, but for the time being the \u201cseparate zones\u201d continue to exist.
\nThe question of our relations with CISH is of more general importance; but even from this point of view, the Commission has again experienced fractures and separations which regard the Commission itself and the whole CISH. There is little interconnection between the commissions, all the commissions. The commissions and the national committees proceed along different paths. World historiography, seen in this light, appears highly divided and fragmented. The occasions for working together do exist. We need only think of the overall programme for Sydney to see how many \u201cmissed opportunities\u201d there have been, how many opportunities there are for the future.
\nAt the assembly in Amsterdam (2002), our Commission committed itself to modify this state of affairs; but we need to insist. And precisely the history we have been through can help us to become aware of these questions with particular acuteness and to identify the most appropriate solutions for our time, for us and for the various members of CISH.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Sydney, 2005) \u00a0 With a quarter of a century behind it, our Commission of the History of International Relations can now I feel rightly claim its own history \u2013 a complex history that it would be interesting to reconstruct. Looking back at the formal setting up of the Commission in Milan (1981), re-reading the series […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/side.parallel.jp\/chir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/side.parallel.jp\/chir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/side.parallel.jp\/chir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/side.parallel.jp\/chir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/side.parallel.jp\/chir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/side.parallel.jp\/chir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25,"href":"https:\/\/side.parallel.jp\/chir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24\/revisions\/25"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/side.parallel.jp\/chir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/side.parallel.jp\/chir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/side.parallel.jp\/chir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}