Annual Conference

ECONOMIES OF WAR / SOCIETIES AT WAR

Unfortunately, recent developments over the last few years, and particularly over the past few months in Europe and the Mediterranean, have once again brought these issues to the centre of public and collective concern, after decades during which, from a Western perspective, armed conflicts seemed to belong to ancient times or distant geographies. Today, it is undeniable that the “drums of war” have returned forcefully to the West and, it would seem, are here to stay.

Accordingly, the 45th APHES Conference, attentive to this reality, proposes to bring war, in its multiple economic and social dimensions, to the centre of the debate, placing it within a historical perspective and contributing to broadening discussion and reflection in the public sphere, beyond immediacy and the very recent past. The latter will naturally be included, but the intention is to enrich it with a much broader diachronic dimension, desirably ranging at least from Ancient Greece and Rome, through the Medieval and Early Modern periods, to the Contemporary era. A multifaceted approach is sought, and contributions are therefore invited from a wide range of social sciences and humanities, including history and archaeology, economics, as well as sociology, anthropology, law, architecture, geography, heritage sciences, communication studies, among others.

The discussion of concepts will also be encouraged. It begins with a general definition of the concept of “war” and an overall view of it. For this reason, all forms of “war” fall within the scope of this 45th Conference. Armed conflicts, that is, effective and real military actions, or merely announced ones, in the form of deterrent threats, economic wars, technological wars, among others.

An economy of war and a society at war, that is, organised for and in accordance with war, may differ from economic wars, which are driven by such factors. In the former case, war constitutes a regular and permanent means of obtaining resources, as for example in certain types of societies characterised by “spring expeditions” into enemy territory, aimed at acquiring booty or capturing prisoners to enslave or ransom; conversely, these societies also had to defend themselves against similar attacks by other peoples. In such cases, the objective was not to conquer territory, but to plunder it, plunder being regarded as a legitimate means of acquiring economic resources.

In other cases, the objective is precisely to conquer territory, or to defend one’s own space by preventing others from doing so. In yet other cases, the aim is to secure, or to block, access to resources, markets and spheres of influence. In all these possibilities, economic and social motivations – as well as impacts – are present in various forms, alongside other political, cultural or civilisational issues. These may correspond, in some cases, to the objective of permanently conquering and dominating new territories and populations, while in other situations preference is given to imposing a “protectorate”-type system over certain territories, maintaining limited governing autonomy, among many other possibilities. All these configurations can be found across different chronologies and spaces, from the most ancient and remote to the present and the proximate.

Accordingly, albeit not exclusively, the following thematic axes are proposed for the 45th APHES Conference:

• Concepts, vocabulary and objects of analysis: war, armed conflicts, political-military conflicts, whether armed or not (i.e. armed conflicts, cold war, hybrid wars, technological wars, wars over spheres of influence and proxy wars, among others).
• Sources and methodologies for the economic and social analysis of wars and conflicts.
• The costs and financing of war.
• Politics, diplomacy and war.
• Economic and social objectives of war and conflicts (access to resources and markets; control over territories, populations and spheres of influence, etc.).
• Social and economic consequences of war and conflicts.
• Military recruitment and military technological development, from an economic and social perspective.
• Social analysis and military recruitment (social groups / ethnic and religious groups, or identity-based / gender / age groups).
• Social and economic experiences: death, health, illness and physical and psychological trauma among military personnel and civilians; incomes (poverty / abundance).
• Propaganda, information and communication in conflicts: the economic and social dimension, in articulation with political, cultural and ideological dimensions. The transmission of knowledge and information.
• Representations of wars: past, present and future.
• Conflict and war heritage: landscapes, territories, and the construction of buildings or structures.
• Theory and ideology with economic and social implications applied to conflicts.

Proposals for individual papers or panels exploring different historical and geographical perspectives are welcome. Each participant may submit a maximum of two papers to the Conference (one as first author and one as second author).

Applications must be submitted in Portuguese, English or Spanish by 15 May 2026, by completing the following forms:
Individual paper proposal: https://forms.gle/RCsuuagWJVMEzFgV7
Panel proposal (with three papers): https://forms.gle/wtCAAbgGTpDBqD5D9

For any queries, the Organising Committee of the XLV APHES Conference may be contacted by email at: 45aphes.uminho@gmail.com.

Note: The Organising Committee of the XLV APHES Conference encourages early-career researchers to apply for the Pedro Lains Prize 2026. Researchers wishing to compete for the prize must submit their proposal exclusively as an individual paper. Papers competing for the prize must be sent to the Organising Committee’s email address by 30 September 2026. The prize regulations are available at this LINK.