The New Zealand historian Maartje Abbenhuis will speak in the Peace Palace Library about her most recent book "The Hague Conferences and International Politics, 1898-1915", which has been written during her NIAS Fellowship in 2018.
Professor Alanna O’Malley, Chair United Nations Studies in Peace and Justice, Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs of Leiden University/The Hague University of Applied Sciences will moderate the book presentation.
Maartje Abbenhuis is also author of ‘An age of neutrals. Great power politics,1815-1914‘ (Cambridge University Press) and editor of ‘War, peace and international order? The legacies of the Hague
Maartje Abbenhuis has become a leading scholar in the field of International Relations and The Hague Peace Conferences over the last couple of years, she organizes well-attended international conferences, and she has previously held a Peace Palace Library Lecture.
About the Book
Beginning with the extraordinary rescript by Tsar Nicholas II in August 1898 calling the world’s governments to a disarmament conference, this book charts the history of the two Hague peace conferences of 1899 and 1907 – and the third conference of 1915 that was never held – using diplomatic correspondence, newspaper reports, contemporary publications and the papers of internationalist organizations and peace activists. Focusing on the international media frenzy that developed around them, Maartje Abbenhuis provides a new angle on the conferences. Highlighting the conventions that they brought about, she demonstrates how The Hague set the tone for international politics in the years leading up to the First World War, permeating media reports and shaping the views and activities of key organizations such as the inter-parliamentary union, the international council of women and the Institut de droit international (Institute of International Law). Based on extensive archival research in the Netherlands, Great Britain, Switzerland and the United States alongside contemporary publications in a range of languages, this book considers the history of the Hague conferences in a new way, and presents a powerful case for the importance of The Hague conferences in shaping twentieth century international politics.