This event is closed to the public.

The American Academy in Rome will host a Balzan Seminar “The Study of Formation, Maintenance, and Failure of States in Muslim Societies” run by Michael Cook, Antoine Borrut, and Marie Legendre. The seminar advances our knowledge of states before modernity: how they functioned, how they extracted resources, and how they were understood by people at the time. It consists of the 3 convenors and 12 early career scholars, with a core group focusing on the Islamic World along with specialists in comparative Eurasian regions. 

The Balzan Seminar began in 2020 and will run until 2027. Due to the Covid Pandemic, the seminar met online monthly for the first 2 years and has since met annually or semi-annually for in-person workshops and meetings. The 15 scholars have produced a wide variety of scholarly publications including monographs, edited volumes, and individual articles. It also has a book series with Edinburgh University Press entitled States before Modernity, where scholars outside the group are more than welcome to submit book proposals that cover the Islamic World and beyond