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APH Conference in Münster

From 11 to 13 June 2026, the University of Münster hosted the major annual conference of the Association for Political History (APH). Under the title ‘Dynamising and Decentring Empires. A Recalibration of the History of the Political’, international scholars discussed new perspectives on global and trans-imperial history. As a partner of the conference, the Centre for Empire Studies (CES) looks back on an inspiring programme.

The three-day conference kicked off with a keynote address by Yale Professor Lauren Benton on the topic of “Interpolity Regimes”. Another highlight on the second day of the event was the second keynote address by Daniel Hedinger from the University of Leipzig, entitled “Transimperial History: The New Global?”.

The CES was involved in shaping the programme of the ApH conference alongside numerous academics. Among others, Sarah Albiez-Wieck, Kevin Lenk (former board member and founding member of the CES until 2025) and Ricarda Vulpius acted as chairs of various panels and led the discussions following the presentations.

In addition, on Saturday, CES members Christoph Lorke and Markus Koller, amongst others, discussed the topic ‘Ordering Empires across imperial borders’ with Lauren Benton and Erik de Lange.

Further substantive presentations were given by Michael Philipp Brunner ( ‘In the Shadow of Empires: International Missionary Cooperation, Politics, and World Christianity, 1920s–1940s’) and Ignacio Helmke and Christiane Hoth (‘Missionary Contact Zones as Trans-Imperial Spaces: Catholic and Anglican Networks in Araucanía, 19th to Early 20th Century’).

The CES would like to thank all its partners, speakers and guests for the lively and inspiring debates!