One of the core activities of the Association is the annual convention. Held in the fall in a different city in North America, this international forum makes possible a broad exchange of information and ideas, stimulating further work and sustaining the intellectual vitality of the field.

2026 ASEEES Convention Theme

States and Empires

2026 ASEEES President: Oxana Shevel, Tufts University

In our region, political power, collective identities, and cultural expressions have long been profoundly affected by states and empires, while these forces in turn shaped and reshaped the fates of states and empires. With key institutions of the democratic state under assault in our region and beyond, and with Russia’s war against Ukraine ongoing, this is a critical time to take stock of what our scholarly community has learned, what it continues to debate, and what lessons our collective scholarship offers when it comes to thinking about states and empires historically and comparatively.