The present proposal aims to apply the results of our previous project on the vitality of political models based on fragmented sovereignty, the importance of multinuclear urban systems, and respect
for constitutional, legal and cultural diversity, in the Early Modern Age to the example posed by the Spanish Monarchy. The predominance of these models in the most densely populated European regions explains the survival of a political culture with strong republican features even within consolidated dynastic systems, such as the Spanish Monarchy, which included some of the most dynamic urban networks and within which cities were the main space of negotiation, as demonstrated by the chiefly urban nature of the Spanish expansion in America.
The project is framed within recent advances in the analysis of imperial systems as one of the most adequate contexts with which to examine interactions between the global and the local. We think that it is necessary to undertake a comprehensive approach to the analysis of the different dominions under the jurisdiction of the Catholic monarch, the understanding of which can only be achieved through the examination of the agents and connectors that allowed for the integration of such heterogeneous and distant regions. Ours is a bottom-up approach, which aims to challenge perspectives that analyse the relationship between centre and periphery chiefly through the examination of the bilateral decisions adopted by the monarch and his poli-synodial structure in negotiation with the local elites through the mediating role played by the kings alter ego. The existence of multiple centres which interacted with one another beyond Madrids control reflects the active political role of local agents and of the significant autonomy enjoyed by different corporations, cities and institutions that constituted the political body.
The combination of a wide range of methodological approaches will allow us to articulate our analysis around 6 closely-related targets: the theoretical foundations of the Spanish Empire and polycentric governance models; the entangled analysis of different urban structures (mechanisms of belonging, integration and exclusion, and spaces of representation); the city as a privileged environment for negotiation, conflict resolution, renewal of consensus, management of natural catastrophes and development of public works; the local construction of relationships with neighbouring states and their impact on the configuration of borders and frontiers; imperial connectors, especially those of a mercantile, religious, artisans and technological nature; and, finally, the projection of political power on urban spaces through the circulation of knowledge and information, in relation to the interaction of multiple local cultures towards the formation of highly-cosmopolitan global models.
The project has recruited a wide array of internationally prestigious researchers. Project members also have experience in joint projects, having worked with multiple research networks which have had excellent results in analysing the Spanish Monarchy from innovative theoretical perspectives, results which have been published by prestigious publishing houses and high-impact journals.
MEMBERS AND INSTITUTIONS
Manuel HERRERO SÁNCHEZ (IP, Universidad Pablo de Olavide de Sevilla UPO)
Gibrán BAUTISTA Y LUGO (Universidad Autónoma de México)
Yasmina BEN YESSEF GARFÍA (Escuela Española de Historia y Arqueología de Roma)
Salvador BERNABÉU (Escuela de Estudios Hispanoamericanos del CSIC)
Arndt BRENDECKE (Universidad de Munich)
Pedro CARDIM (Universidade Nova de Lisboa, CHAM de Lisboa)
Juan Manuel CASTILLO RUBIO (UPO)
Domenico CECERE (Universidad Federico II de Nápoles)
Antonio FEROS (Universidad de Pensilvania)
José María GARCÍA REDONDO (Universidad Autónoma de México/EEEHA)
Pablo HERNÁNDEZ SAU (IUE, Florencia)
Tamar HERZOG (Universidad de Harvard)
Iris KANTOR (Universidad de Sao Paulo)
Klemens KAPS (Universidad de Linz)
Igor KNECEVIC (Universidad de Pensilvania)
Giovanni LEVI (Universidad Ca’Foscari de Venecia)
Manuel LUCENA GIRALDO (Instituto Historia del CSIC)
Aliocha MALDAVSKI (Universidad de Nanterre)
Benoît MARÉCHAUX (IUE de Florencia)
David MARTÍN MARCOS (UNED de Madrid)
Rocío MORENO CABANILLAS (UPO)Jonatán OROZCO CRUZ (UPO)
Francisco ORREGO (Universidad Andrés Bello de Viña del Mar en Chile)
María Eugenia PETIT-BREUILH (Universidad de Sevilla)
Alberto RODRÍGUEZ MARTÍNEZ (UPO)
Mafalda SOARES DA CUNHA (Universidad de Évora-CIDEHUS)
Thomas WELLER (IEG, Mainz, Instituto Leibniz de Historia europea de Maguncia)
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