Making Public Histories: Why Republics Die
Threats to democratic and republican regimes in the contemporary world have caused historians to reflect on how they fail. Are they vulnerable to authoritarian and military threats, or are they victims of their own shortcomings? Three historians of very different periods in world history join with host Peter McPhee to discuss this fundamental issue.
Host:
Professor Peter McPhee is the Chair of the History Council of Victoria. He was appointed to a Personal Chair in History at the University of Melbourne in 1993. He was Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) and then the University’s first Provost in 2007-09. He is now an Emeritus Professor. He has published widely on the history of France since 1770, most recently Robespierre: a Revolutionary Life (2012); Liberty or Death: the French Revolution (2016); and An Environmental History of France: Making the Landscape 1770-2020 (2024).
Our speakers:
Frederik Vervaet – Reform Unwillingness and the Death of the Roman Republic
Frederik Vervaet (PhD Ghent, Flanders) is Professor of Ancient History at the University of Melbourne where he specializes in Roman sociopolitical and institutional history and its ceaseless relevance to our modern era. He is one of the editors of the collection, How Republics Die: Creeping Authoritarianism in Ancient Rome and Beyond.
Dr Ángel Alcalde – Fascism and the Destruction of European Democracies in the 1930s
Dr Ángel Alcalde is Senior Lecturer in History at the University of Melbourne. His recently completed book The Global Rise of Fascism is under contract with Cambridge University Press.
Dr Julia Bowes – Make America Great Again? A Historical Perspective on the Right and the Decline of Democracy in the United States
Dr Julia Bowes is a Lecturer in Gender History at the University of Melbourne. Her first book, Every Man’s Home A Castle: Parental Rights and the Makings of Modern Conservatism, will appear with Princeton University Press this April.
The seminar is part of an ongoing series, Making Public Histories, that is offered jointly by the Monash University History Program, the History Council of Victoria and the Old Treasury Building. Each seminar aims to explore issues and approaches in making public histories. The seminars are open, free of charge, to anyone interested in the creation and impact of history in contemporary society.
We thank the series sponsors, Monash University Publishing, the Monash University History Program and the Old Treasury Building.