POST-EMPIRE · The Political Culture of Post-imperial Intervention. The case of Spain and the South American republics of the Pacific (1833-1868).

The Political Culture of Post-imperial Intervention. The case of Spain and the South American republics of the Pacific (1833-1868).

ChatGPT dijo: Context, Motivation, and Pathway to Impact Setting the scene: why a project on post-imperial intervention now? Across Europe and beyond, foreign and security policy are increasingly shaped by the afterlives of empire. From Eastern Europe to the South Caucasus, from North Africa to the Pacific, crises escalate in theatres where a former imperial power still claims symbolic authority, strategic access, or historical rights. Yet the EU’s external action and Strategic Compass have only recently begun to integrate the historically specific dynamics of post-imperial conflicts—those in which a former metropole seeks to influence, discipline, or re-enter spaces once under its control. Understanding these conflicts requires more than conventional threat assessments; it demands a historical political sociology of strategic culture, attentive to ideas, memories, and geopolitical imaginaries that connect past imperial orders to present-day decision-making. POST-EMPIRE responds to this need through a focused historical case that speaks to a wider pattern: Spain’s interventions, pressures, and diplomatic projects in the South American Pacific—Chile, Peru, and Ecuador—during the Isabeline era (1833–1868). In this period, Spanish authorities, naval officers, consular networks, private actors, and intellectuals experimented with strategies to (re)build influence without territorial reconquest. The result was a repertoire we can recognise today as informal or post-imperial imperialism: a blend of commercial nationalism, naval presence, prestige politics, humanitarian discourses, and ideological appeals to a shared “civilisation” or “Hispanic family.” These strategies culminated in the 1866 bombardments of Valparaíso and Callao—events that, although short of total war, reveal how post-imperial ambition can spiral into coercive escalation. By reconstructing the political culture that made such actions thinkable, legitimate, and strategically “rational” for Spanish elites, POST-EMPIRE provides a historically grounded, conceptually precise lens for analysing other theatres where the legacies of empire continue to structure conflict and cooperation. The project thus “sets the scene” for an EU-relevant story: how ideas, identities, and strategic habits born in empire persist, and how they can be addressed by policy, diplomacy, and norm-building today. The problem and the gap in knowledge Three interlocking gaps motivated the project: Historiographical gap. While the “imperial turn” transformed historical studies of empire, comparatively little work has examined post-imperial interventionism as a distinct phenomenon with its own ideological and strategic logics. Nineteenth-century Spain in the Pacific is especially under-studied, typically treated either as a prelude to 1898 or as episodic diplomacy, rather than as a coherent grand strategy of re-imperialization. Conceptual gap between History, Political Theory, and IR. Scholarship often treats strategic culture, ideology, and geopolitics in isolation. POST-EMPIRE integrates historical method (archival reconstruction), political theory (analysis of concepts such as civilisation, honour, order, peace, humanity), and constructivist IR (imaginaries, norms, and narratives) to show how elites make interventionism intelligible and legitimate. Policy gap. EU strategic documents reference history and values but seldom draw on comparative historical models of how post-imperial conflicts escalate, how identity-narratives operate, and how informal instruments (consular networks, private actors, commercial lawfare, naval presence) interact with formal diplomacy. POST-EMPIRE translates historical memory into decision-support for early warning, conflict prevention, and strategic communication. Overall objectives The project pursued five mutually reinforcing objectives: Reconstruct the geopolitical imaginaries and interests underpinning Spanish post-imperial interventionism in Chile, Peru, and Ecuador (1833–1868), with special attention to pan-Hispanism, free-trade imperialism, (anti)republicanism, navalism, honour and prestige, humanitarianism, and “civilisation.” Map emulation and competition with Britain, France, and the United States to explain how Spanish strategic culture adapted and differentiated itself within a crowded imperial field. Build an interdisciplinary framework—bridging History, Political Theory, and International Relations—to compare post-imperial conflicts across time and space, generating portable concepts (e.g., ideology clusters, re-imperialization pathways, prestige-security dilemmas). Create open, reusable research assets: curated archival/bibliographic corpora, FAIR data catalogues, and digital-humanities platforms to enable replication and comparative extension. Translate scholarship into impact for policy, education, and public debate: targeted dissemination, an international research network, Open Access publications (including an OA monograph under contract), and innovative outreach (podcast series; a serious-games card deck) that turn complex theory into accessible tools. Closely linked to these project-level aims were career-development objectives achieved during the Action: securing a permanent academic trajectory in Europe while consolidating bi-regional (EU–LATAM) collaboration; building a multi-institutional network; gaining advanced training in global history, political theory of empire, and IR constructivism; and leading teams, events, and PhD supervision to anchor a sustainable research program. Concept and approach: from archives to theory to impact Case logic and comparative leverage The South American Pacific in 1833–1868 offers ideal analytical leverage. Spain confronted newly independent republics that were culturally proximate yet politically autonomous; British and French economic-naval power constrained Spanish options; the United States’ hemispheric ambitions grew; and trans-Pacific connections (via the Philippines) animated strategic thought. This environment made indirect instruments—consulates, private commercial networks, naval stations, press campaigns, humanitarian rhetoric—especially salient. By reconstructing how these instruments were imagined, legitimated, and deployed, POST-EMPIRE identifies a post-imperial repertoire that travels across cases. Interdisciplinary engine (SSH integration) The project is rooted in Social Sciences and Humanities integration: History provides the evidentiary backbone: multi-archive research in Spain, the UK, Germany, Chile, Peru, and Ecuador; press repositories across Europe and the Americas; and institutional collections (e.g., Ibero-Amerikanisches Institut, CSIC libraries). Political Theory supplies conceptual precision: analysis of key political concepts—civilisation, honour, order, peace, sovereignty, humanity—showing how they shifted valences (often along gendered lines) and structured justification for intervention. International Relations (constructivism) connects ideas to strategy: how imaginaries and normative claims shape policy choices, how prestige interacts with security, and how emulation/competition with other powers produces path dependence in strategic culture. The result is an analytical model for post-imperial conflicts that can be applied comparatively (e.g., Spain–Americas; Russia–Ukraine), enabling dialogue with EU policy communities that require historically nuanced but actionable insights. Methods, materials, and Open Science Methodologically, the project combined qualitative archival reconstruction with conceptual analysis and source curation as a public good. It produced FAIR digital assets (catalogues of documents, press items, bibliographies) deposited in DIGITAL.CSIC/EOSC and disseminated via dedicated websites. This open infrastructure allows other teams to reproduce findings, test alternative hypotheses, and extend the comparative frame. The commitment to Open Access (journal articles, data catalogues, and an OA book contract with Routledge for 2026) ensures visibility and long-term reuse. Gender and the politics of intervention The research foregrounded the gendered construction of key geopolitical concepts. Competing discourses masculinised and feminised ideas such as honour, order, peace, and humanitarianism to authorise specific courses of action—conciliation vs. coercion, paternal “protection” vs. punitive prestige. Tracing these shifting gender imaginaries clarifies how moral vocabularies legitimate force, an insight with direct relevance for contemporary strategic communication and norm entrepreneurship. Key results to date (research and career) Even with the fellowship concluding after 12 months (authorised early closure), the project delivered or surpassed most objectives: Publications and scholarly outputs. Peer-reviewed articles accepted/published in Q1/Q2 venues; a book contract (OA) with Routledge (2026); a state-of-the-art and a general theoretical proposal under evaluation; and a cross-case comparison (Spain/Russia) published in Open Research Europe. These publications formalise the analytical model and the historical findings. Data and digital assets. Curated corpora accessible through DIGITAL.CSIC and project websites; transparent research catalogues enabling replication and teaching. Network and events. Organisation of the I Symposium Workshop: Post-imperial Possibilities in the Iberian Pacific and Atlantic Worlds (1808–1898); participation in international congresses and permanent seminars; a book proposal with Liverpool University Press emerging from network activities. Innovative outreach. A six-episode podcast (Iberómanos) translating research into informed public debate; radio programmes; two research-outreach websites; and a serious-games card deck (POST-EMPIRE: Intervention or Resistance), showcased at the European Researchers’ Night to engage students, teachers, and citizens in strategic thinking about empire’s legacies. Career development and leadership. Award of a Ramón y Cajal contract (RYC2023-044990-I), enabling stabilisation as Full Professor at UNED within two years; award of a Fondecyt project (Chile), securing sustained EU–LATAM collaboration; advanced training during secondments at Cambridge (political theory of empire) and Freie Universität Berlin (Latin America’s global history); PhD supervision in Spain and Chile; and leadership in team coordination, grant design, and cross-regional projects. These achievements reinforce the dual impact pathway—scientific and professional—ensuring the project’s legacy outlives the fellowship. Pathway to impact: who benefits, how, and on what scale? 1) Academic impact (research communities) Beneficiaries. Global historians of empire; scholars of the nineteenth-century Hispanic world; political theorists of international order; IR constructivists studying strategic culture; historians of law and diplomatic practice. Mechanisms. Conceptual toolkit (ideology clusters; re-imperialization pathways; prestige-security dilemmas; gendered imaginaries) for comparative research and graduate teaching. Open corpora and data to seed follow-on projects, digital exhibitions, and doctoral work. OA monograph to synthesise the model and the Spanish Pacific case for a broad scholarly audience. International network and symposium series to consolidate a new field—post-imperial conflict studies—with Iberian and trans-Pacific anchors. Scale and significance. By filling a historiographical gap and formalising a generalisable framework, POST-EMPIRE changes how scholars conceptualise the transition from imperial dissolution to renewed intervention. The OA model and public datasets enhance citation, pedagogy, and cumulative knowledge. 2) Policy and strategic impact (EU, member states, think-tanks) Beneficiaries. EEAS, DG INTPA, parliamentary research services, national MFAs and defence colleges, policy think-tanks concerned with conflict prevention, sanctions, strategic communication, and maritime security. Mechanisms. Historically grounded early-warning indicators derived from the Spanish case: watch for prestige crises, identity-restoration narratives, humanitarianised coercion, diaspora/consular mobilisation, and law-of-nations framings that mask escalatory intent. Scenario design and red-teaming using the serious-games deck to translate theory into training exercises for diplomats, analysts, and students. Briefing materials and seminars built from the OA article and forthcoming book, adaptable to policy curricula. Scale and significance. The deliverables offer low-cost, high-uptake tools: public, citable, adaptable, and ready for integration into EU training pipelines. They address Strategic Compass priorities—conflict prevention, resilience, maritime awareness, and strategic communication—by reframing cases through post-imperial logics rather than generic “revanchism.” 3) Societal and educational impact (schools, universities, museums, civil society) Beneficiaries. Secondary and tertiary educators; cultural institutions; NGOs interested in memory, identity, and decolonisation debates; students and general audiences. Mechanisms. Podcast series and public lectures that convert archival research into narrative pedagogy. Web platforms that combine data with interpretive guides for classroom use. Serious game that fosters historical literacy and ethical reflection on intervention, sovereignty, and responsibility. Scale and significance. The combination of OA content, targeted outreach, and gamified learning reaches large, diverse audiences in both Europe and Latin America, normalising evidence-based debate about empire’s legacies. Integration of Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) The project is conceived and executed as an SSH integration effort: History supplies sources and chronology; political theory clarifies normative vocabularies and their rhetorical power; IR connects discourse to strategy. Rather than treating ideas as epiphenomena, the project shows how concepts are instruments—they authorise naval displays, consular protests, commercial retaliation, and humanitarian interventions. Gender analysis is not an add-on but a structural dimension of legitimation. Competing masculinities/femininities—“honourable firmness” vs. “conciliatory peace,” paternal guardianship vs. fraternal equality—structured diplomatic scripts, press campaigns, and public rituals. This insight informs contemporary messaging in sensitive theatres where dignity and protection narratives are weaponised. Digital humanities practices operationalise SSH integration in infrastructure: FAIR data, reproducible workflows, and public-facing platforms ensure that conceptual insights translate into collective scholarly capacity. From project to program: the researcher’s trajectory as an impact multiplier MSCA support accelerated a combined scientific and career trajectory that multiplies impact: Stabilisation and leadership. The Ramón y Cajal contract paves the way to a permanent chair at UNED, anchoring a research hub with sustained project management, PhD training, and network coordination. The Fondecyt award guarantees bi-regional continuity and joint supervision, extending EU–LATAM cooperation and data sharing. Training and transfer. Secondments at Cambridge and Freie Universität Berlin upgraded expertise and created two-way knowledge transfer: (i) integrating trans-Pacific and Latin American global history at CSIC; (ii) embedding political theory of empire and conceptual history within the project’s analytical frame; (iii) introducing the post-imperial conflicts model into host curricula and seminars. Team formation. The Action enabled doctoral supervision in Spain and Chile on topics directly tied to the project (geopolitical imaginaries of S pain; the Valparaíso bombardment in Chilean memory; civilisation in Spanish geopolitical thought). These theses will become early adopters and testers of the model, strengthening continuity. Resource mobilisation. Combined RYC and Fondecyt funding (c. €300,000 for research activities) supports archival digitisation, data pipelines, and collaborative publications, ensuring the open corpora continue to grow and remain useful to the wider field. In short, the individual career gains are not incidental; they are the infrastructure of impact, making the project’s insights durable, scalable, and internationally networked. Communication, dissemination, and exploitation Scholarly dissemination. Articles in Q1/Q2 journals; an Open Access monograph (Routledge, 2026); datasets and catalogues in DIGITAL.CSIC/EOSC; a follow-on edited volume under discussion with Liverpool University Press. Public communication. Iberómanos podcast; radio programmes; public seminars in Spain, Chile, Germany, and beyond; two open websites with resources for educators and citizens. Educational exploitation. The serious-games POST-EMPIRE: Intervention or Resistance offers modular scenarios for classrooms, summer schools, diplomatic training, and museums. It can be co-developed with education ministries and cultural institutions. Policy exploitation. Briefing notes, scenario workshops, and red-team exercises for EU and national services. The analytical model can feed early-warning indicators and strategic communications playbooks specifically tuned to post-imperial triggers. IP and openness. Academic texts and datasets follow Open Science mandates; the game’s IP is being explored for social enterprise/educational publishing, balancing accessibility with sustainability. Environmental sustainability and ethics The project followed a pragmatic Green Charter: travel clustering and public transport where feasible; heavy reliance on digital repositories; dematerialised teaching materials; and events using institutional venues and shared equipment. Substantively, the framework integrates ecosystem and territorial imaginaries within geopolitical thinking, linking resource frontiers (guano, nitrates, maritime routes) to ideology and conflict—an angle relevant to Green Deal debates on historical extractivism and environmental security. Ethically, the project engages contested memories without polemics, foregrounds source transparency, and designs outreach tools that invite reflection rather than advocacy. Risks, mitigation, and lessons learned A key deviation—shortening the fellowship to 12 months due to the Ramón y Cajal award—was turned into a strength. Work packages were reprioritised: the e-book became a higher-impact Open Research Europe article; the book manuscript advanced to a signed OA contract; and outreach shifted from a planned social-media channel to more robust platforms (podcast, websites, public events, serious game). The lesson is clear: impact is a portfolio, not a single channel; diversification (OA, data, audio, games, seminars) increases reach and resilience. Expected impacts: scale and significance Scientific. Establish a comparative field of post-imperial conflict studies anchored in robust historical cases, conceptually equipped to dialogue with IR and political theory. The OA monograph, datasets, and network ensure international uptake. Policy. Provide the EU and member states with historically grounded tools—concepts, indicators, and training modules—to interpret and anticipate post-imperial escalations. Expected beneficiaries include diplomatic academies, strategic-communications teams, and early-warning units. Societal and educational. Enhance historical literacy and critical reflection on empire’s legacies across schools, universities, and cultural venues. The game and podcast formats can reach tens of thousands over time, especially with institutional partnerships. Career and capacity. Consolidate a sustainable EU-LATAM research hub, with trained PhD cohorts, stable funding, and institutional anchoring at UNED, CSIC, Cambridge, and Freie Universität Berlin. This capacity multiplies impacts through future projects, workshops, and policy engagements. Quantitatively, by 2026 the project expects: an OA monograph and several Q1 articles; a reusable corpus cited and downloaded across institutions; at least one edited volume from the network; game adoption in multiple classrooms and workshops; and a regular pipeline of policy-oriented seminars. Qualitatively, the project reframes how scholars and practitioners talk about and act within post-imperial theatres—moving from anecdotal analogies to structured, evidence-based comparison. Conclusion: setting the scene—then changing it POST-EMPIRE begins with a historical puzzle—how a liberalising Spain attempted to project power back into the South American Pacific—and ends with a contemporary proposition: post-imperial interventionism is a distinctive strategic culture with recurrent ideologies, instruments, and escalation paths. By recovering that culture in detail, theorising it comparatively, and translating it into open, teachable, and policy-usable resources, the project equips Europe to read today’s conflicts with sharper, historically informed eyes. The project’s pathway to impact is therefore cumulative and self-reinforcing. Scholarly outputs legitimise the framework; open data sustains collaboration; training and secondments expand competence; outreach materials broaden social understanding; and career consolidation anchors a durable program. In short, POST-EMPIRE does more than set the scene for the story—it builds the stage, trains the cast, and writes the script by which researchers, students, and policymakers can recognise post-imperial dynamics and act with prudence and foresight.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union