Historian Jean-Michel Johnston (United Kingdom) took to the stage of the University of Andorra auditorium to deliver the talk "Defying Fate: How Andorra, Liechtenstein, Monaco and San Marino Are Questioning the Paradigms of Contemporary European History". Dr. Johnston analysed how, in the decades leading up to the French Revolution, Enlightenment thinkers feared that the small states they admired — such as Rousseau's Republic of Geneva — would be threatened by the expansion of large commercial empires. By these predictions, the contemporary era would be dominated by increasingly extensive and powerful states. 

To a large extent, history appears to have proven them right: throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, nationalism and imperialism favoured the territorial consolidation of a set of states that have marked Europe’s evolution. In this context, Andorra, Liechtenstein, Monaco and San Marino have often been considered singular exceptions. However, their survival and prosperity in the contemporary age invite us to review the traditional paradigms of European history and to rethink the complexity of the forces that explain its development. 

After the presentation, Dr. Johnston met with members of the team of the Observatory of History, Political Science, International Relations and the European Union. 

Jean-Michel Johnston is Associate Professor of Modern European History at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge University. On 7 April, he arrived at Faber Andorra to work on his book Against All Odds: The Defiant History of Europe’s Smallest States, 1789-Present. The stay ends tomorrow, Friday.