To all the correspondents of the International Boundaries Research Unit


Dear colleagues,

I recently discovered the existence of the IBRU and decided to join the
list of the electronic correspondents. I'm very interested exchanging
informations about this subject. One object of my researchs is the study of
international boundaries problems in the History.

My background :

I have recently obtained a bachelor's degree in History with "the greatest
distinction and the jury's congratulations" to the Catholic University of
Louvain (Belgium). These academic honours are principaly due to the
redaction of an original study on the international boundaries during the
eighteenth century. My graduate dissertation is entitled "Les bornes
immuables de l'Etat. La rationalisation du trace des frontieres au siecle
des Lumieres : Pays-Bas autrichiens et principaute de Liege (1730-1794)"
(title you can translate in English by "The unalterable boundaries of the
State. The rationalization of the frontier during the Age of Enlightenment
: Austrian Netherlands and principality of Liege"). I hope this work will
be published soon. I prepair now a doctorate in History.
The thesis will try to be a new historical geography (interesting too the
history of geography and cartography) : not only know the old boundaries,
but know too how the frontier and the territory are thought and understood.
It will be too a contribution to the history of Law, the history of ideas
(particularly the political ideas) and to the history of the internation
relations (not the classical diplomatic history but a study of the
relations between the governments "and" between the peoples).

Introduction :

Most French historians think always the Revolution and the republican model
is the source of all the innovations, the origin of all the most important
principles of our contemporary political system. The absolutist regime has
not developed a sense of territoriality : boundaries were vague, with a lot
of enclaves, ... I made the long demonstration (by 408 pages) this thesis -
defended e.g. by the famous French historian Lucien Febvre - is false.
During the eighteenth century, different States of Western Europe
peacefully make end to their disputes. At Versailles in France, at Brussels
in the Austrian Netherlands, at Liege in the episcopal principality,
institutions were specially founded to study these problems, to collect
informations on the border incidents, to make good maps, ... One thing was
really important : to protect the rights of the Sovereign on the smallest
part of his territory.

The border incidents between the Austrian Netherlands (the Belgian
provinces) and the episcopal principality of Liege happened daily. The
actual Belgian territory was cutted by this of the principality from North
to South, from Holland to France. The principality represented 20% of the
actual Belgian territory and its boundaries were caracteristic : a lot of
enclaves, more or less one hundred villages disputed between the two
governments.

To do this study, I researched archives in Belgium, France and Austria : at
Brussels (Archives generales du Royaume = General Record of the Kingdom of
Belgium), Namur and Liege (Archives de l'Etat dans les provinces = Record
Office of the State in the provinces), at Lille (France, Archives
departementales du Nord = Departemental Record of the North), at Paris
(Ministere des Affaires etrangeres = French Foreign Office ; Archives
nationales de France = National Record Office of France ; Service
historique de l'Armee de Terre = Historical Service of the Army) ; at
Vienna (Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv = Record of the House, the Court and
the State of Austria).

A summary of my graduate thesis :


1.   A century of peace for the Western European frontiers

France was the strongest and most threatening military power in Europe from
the Peace of Westphalia (1648) to the Treaty of Utrecht (1713). Louis XIV
first dreamed of expanding French frontiers to the Rhine ; later he coveted
the Spanish crown. The diplomacy of other European states in the era can
largely be explained by their common efforts to unite against this French
expansion. The Treaty of Utrecht ushered in a period of general peace,
lasting some thirty years. Philip V, Louis' grandson, was confirmed as king
of Spain, with the provision that the two thrones would never be united.
Spain surrendered the Southern Netherlands (Belgium) and its Italian
holdings (Naples, Milan and Sardinia) to the Austrian Habsburgs. After a
century of wars (the "wars of Louis 14"), the Treaty of Utrecht opened a
new era for the Belgian provinces. Under Spanish Habsburgs' domination,
they were the battleground of Europe. The neutrality will now protect them.
During the eighteenth century, only the War of Austrian Succession
(1743-1748) trouble th peace until the revolutions.

New rules, in Western Europe, are in use : the most important is the "uti
possidetis". Now, the war doesn't change the frontiers.


2.     Territoriality and sovereignty : the idea of State

How is it possible, for instance, for the modern mind to conceive distincly
a travelling political organization, a State without territorial boundaries
or the need of them, composed of persons, but associated with no fixed or
certain habitat? Drawn by the processes of feudalization, sovereignty found
at last a local habitation and a name : a national identity will be founded
on a definite territory. Modern definitions of a State always limit
sovereignty to some definite land. "A State" - runs the modern definition -
"is a people organized for law withiin a definite territory". For the
modern thought, the idea of territoriality is connected with the existence
of a State.
During the Age of Enlightenment, the State strives to have the means of his
hegemony : progress of the cartographic sciece (with a vast campaign of
systematic cartography by the military engineers), researchs in the
official records to find the proofs of the Sovereign's rights on the
disputed villages, growing presence of the central authorities in the daily
life of the men...

Some subjects of my actual doctoral researchs are :
the concept of neutral territory ; the relations between the (national)
territory and the (national) identity ; the relations between the citizens,
the sovereign and the State (between the Law and the space, and the signs
of this power in the landscape) ; rules to make end to border incidents, as
the "uti possidetis" (rule of the "statu quo").

All propositions of collaboration or publication will be seriously
examined. When you are calling for articles, papers (in English, in French
or translated in an other language), if you are looking for specialists to
read a paper in a congress or workshop, if you wish only have more
information on some subjects of my researchs, do'nt hesitate to contact me.


Yours sincerely,

Sebastien Dubois


______________________________________________________________

Full contact details :

M. Sebastien J. E. Dubois Ph.D student
Rue Sainte-Anne, 36
6238 LUTTRE
BELGIUM
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Correspondence can be adressed in French, Dutch or English.
A French version of this texte can be sent on demand.
La version francaise de ce texte sera envoyee sur simple demande.
This work may be copied for non-profit educational use if proper credit is
given to the author.






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