Stretched across early modern and modern history, the Portuguese, Hispanic, Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman, and Russian empires experienced stress and even decadence before the liberal revolutions and the advance of capitalism. To survive in the midst of growing international competition, they had to imagine, design and deploy reform programs that combined innovation, selective adaptation of influences and the preservation of traditions considered idiosyncratic. This workshop offers an overview of some of the areas in which knowledge and institutional change interacted in the old empires between the 18th and 19th centuries.

Organizing Committe