Historical Treaties of Southeast Asia
A research program in global diplomatic history
Historical Treaties of Southeast Asia is a collaborative research program in Global Diplomatic History financed by the Swedish Research Council and running from 2022 until the end of 2027.
A team of seven researchers based in Europe and Southeast Asia investigate the role of treaties and treaty-making in the imperial expansion and colonisation of Southeast Asia from the eighteenth to the early and twentieth century.
The researchers systematically analyse all bilateral treaties concluded between a European, American or Japanese imperial power and a Southeast Asian polity between the eighteenth and early twentieth century. In addition, a selected number of diplomatic treaty-making processes are studied in detail. In doing so, the project aims to bring about a new and more nuanced understanding modern imperialism of relevance not only to Southeast Asia but globally.
Maarten Manse at Sciences Po Paris
Maarten Manse will present his paper “Recasting the Terms of Empire: How Indigenous Translators and Scribes Mediated the Legal Vocabulary of Empire through Treaty-making in Southeast Asia (c. 1750–1900)” at the junior conference Invisible Actors in the Making of International Law (1750–2000), hosted at Sciences Po, Paris, 27–28 November 2025.
SEAT Members and Philippine scholars on Repatriating Muslim Mindanao Heritage
SEAT project and Southern Philippine scholars presented a collaborative paper on reclaiming Muslim Mindanao heritage from Spain
