Dr Zachary MAZUR, Research Fellow in the European Civilisation Chair at the College of Europe in Natolin, presented a paper at the Conference “Ethnicising Europe. Hate and Violence in Post-Versailles Europe” hosted by the Simon Wiesenthal Institute in Vienna on 7 July 2021.
His paper, entitled “Sovereignty and Legitimate Violence: Micro-States in East Central Europe, 1918-1921”, explored the fate of various small polities that cropped up at the end of the First World War, when the great land empires of Europe collapsed. The presentation used these examples as a vehicle for exploring more fundamental questions about the nature of statehood, and the foundations of legitimacy and sovereignty in modern history. Dr MAZUR offered a slight revision of the standard explanations for the definitions of sovereignty based on the principle of democratic participation at the local level.
The presentation can be viewed on Facebook here.
