Trade wars, tolls, and travel restrictions may dominate the news in the early 21st century, but they are not new phenomena. This workshop is dedicated to the premodern history of economic sanctions. We will look at core cases of premodern sanctions research, and explore the boundaries of what it means to talk about economic sanctioning in a world before economic liberalism.
Premodern Economic Sanctions
Economic sanctions have become a routine state of exception. What these sanctions do, and whether they work, however, has been the subject of intense academic debate for decades. Over the course of the past century, moreover, economic sanctions have morphed from a measure of war (Mulder 2022), into a power-political alternative this side of war in the guise of economic statecraft (Baldwin 1985), into the economically potent world’s default reaction to international challenges. The political practice of economic sanctioning is clearly Protean.
This workshop draws together case studies of premodern economic sanctioning, from Antiquity to the later Middle Ages, and from the Mediterranean to the British Isles. We will discuss classics of historical sanctions research, such as embargoes, alongside monetary fines and economic incentives, in order to explore the different shapes and the borderlines of economic coercion.
If you are interested in participating, please register with Rafael Feind (rafael.feind@unibas.ch) by 20th August 2025.
Wednesday, 3rd September 2025
16:00 – 16:30:
Welcome and Introduction (Maximiliane Berger, Basel)
16:30 – 18:00:
Key Notes in Sanctions Research I, with Mike Carr (Edinburgh) and Stefan Stantchev (Arizona State University)
Thursday, 4th September 2025
08:30 – 10:00:
Tribute and Tithe as Signs of Submission to Christianity in the Saxon Marches, 10th–11th centuries (Mihai Dragnea, University of South-Eastern Norway)
The Threat of Monetary Fines in the Documents of the Reformpäpste (Sofie Auer, Wuppertal)
10:30–12:00:
The Economic and Social Impact of Confiscations and Fines in the Roman Society (Sofia Piacentin, Verona)
Between Sanctions and Trade Incentives: Royal Policies for Grain Provision during the Great Famine in England, 1315–1322 (Maximilian Schuh, Berlin)
13:00–14:30:
Economic Coercion and the German Hanse as a Sanctioning Community: The Case of Cologne and the English Trade Embargo, 1469–1478 (Angela Huang, Lübeck)
Economic Sanctions and Symbolic Communication in Anglo-Hanseatic Relations during the Late 15th Century (Julian Koch, Berlin)
15:00–16:30:
Entwined Enemies. The Negotiation of English Sanctions Policy in the later Hundred Years' War (Robin Wheeler, Berlin)
Venice's Embargo against Mehmed II and Political Decision-Making in Renaissance Venice (Stefan Stantchev, Arizona State University)
Friday, 5th September 2025
09:30–12:00:
Key Notes in Sanctions Research II, with Alexandra Kaar (Vienna) and Christian Jaser (Kassel)
Concluding Discussion
Kontakt
maximiliane.berger@unibas.ch
rafael.feind@unibas.ch
Lieu de l'événement
Informations supplémentaires sur l'événement
Coûts de participation
