29 August 2012

A member of Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar (SFS-Q) is all set to raise the profile of Qatar after having been chosen as one of the three research fellows by the Institute for Historical Studies (IHS) at the University of Texas at Austin.

Prof Edward J. Kolla, Assistant Professor, History, will now devote time to examine diplomacy as he expands on his dissertation on the French Revolution and the transformation of international law in the late 18th century, into a book manuscript on the legal justifications for territorial claims during the period of the French Revolution.

“This is an excellent opportunity to get significant work done on my book, but more importantly, to do so while interacting with other historians working in new and innovative forms of diplomatic history. The synergy of these sorts of fellowships is unique - not only does one get exposed to other and exciting projects, which in and of itself is something we academics love, but these environments also often inspire revaluation and fresh insight into one’s own work,” said Prof Kolla, who specializes in the history of international law.

“What distinguishes my work is that traditional diplomatic history hasn't really addressed questions of political or legal culture, whereas what has been written of international law for the period tends to be on the level of philosophy or high intellectual history. My work aims to bridge, and go beyond, these various trends. That's why I'm so excited to come to Austin in the context of the "Rethinking Diplomacy" theme, to work with other scholars writing other forms of ‘new’ diplomatic history,” added Prof Kolla.

The selection comes as part of the IHS’s fifth year of programming and was chosen from a large and highly competitive pool of outstanding applicants. The three new visiting research fellows will now examine topics related to the Institute’s latest theme of “Rethinking of Diplomacy”.

“I imagine that my project fits well with the Redefining Diplomacy theme. Since the very beginning of my time in graduate school, I've been aware of and committed to the project of revivifying diplomatic history, which has been "out of fashion" in academic circles for some time now,” noted Prof Kolla.