Call for Papers
Postwar trade and its impact: Economic Development, Social Change and National Security in the Baltic Sea Region 1918–1939
A workshop at Södertörn university, 20-21 of May 2027
In the small countries in the broader geopolitical region around Baltic Sea, the period after the First World War was characterized by uncertainty and instability, defined by unsolved conflicts and the experiences of loss and destruction. It was likewise a period of political, economic, and cultural reorientation and reconstruction. The profound uncertainty regarding the future was matched by an equally significant demand to create national and international policies and institutions capable of addressing the many repercussions of the war. One of the pressing issues after the war for the small, export-dependent countries around Baltic Sea was to organize their international trade. With the help of renewed trade agreements and international institutions, national economies started to transform from war economies into internationally interdependent peace economies. Rebuilding of international trading relations went hand in hand with reconstruction of diplomatic relations.
Historiography of the post-First World War period has traditionally focused on the major powers (Steiner 2005; Leonhard 2018). Yet describing the Baltic Sea region as “peripheral”, and therefore as a less consequential part of Europe, obscures the profound geopolitical transformations that unfolded there. Situated at the intersection of collapsing empires, the region became a geopolitical hotspot, much as it is today. The emergence of Finland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania as new nation-states, alongside the restoration of Poland and the creation of both the Soviet Union and the German Weimar Republic, produced an entirely new economic and political landscape during the 1920s. In the 1930s, however, this development was seriously put to the test with geopolitical factors such as the rise of Nazi Germany in 1933; the consolidation and Stalinization of the Soviet Union; and the emergence of nationalist driven regimes in the Baltic Sea region. Hence, this constellation of vastly different regimes, ideologies, demographics, and economic systems, which had reshaped the Baltic Sea region into one of the most dynamic regions was also one of the most contested spaces of interwar Europe. Something that culminated with the outbreak of the Second World War on 1 September 1939.
This workshop will explore the restructuring and development of international trade in the period between the world wars, with a special focus on the Baltic Sea Region. We seek papers engaging with this topic from a variety of perspectives. Suggested topics include trade relations between the Baltic Sea states, natural resource management and conflicts, the impact of international trade on the economic, political and social development in the region, trade diplomacy, treaties and geopolitical conflicts related to international trade. The ambition is that the workshop will result in a special issue in an international journal.
The workshop is made possible through a grant from the Foundation for Baltic and East European Studies. Participants can apply for funding for their travel and hotel expenses in Stockholm. Please specify your funding needs when submitting your paper proposals. Participants with longer journeys and junior scholars will be prioritized.
Please send your abstract of max. 500 words and a brief CV of max. 300 words until January 15, 2027 to: andreas.akerlund@sh.se
We will inform the selected participants until March 1, 2027.