Dr Pascal Venier FRGS

Director, Centre for the Study of Islam in the Modern World, University of Salford.
Member, European Studies Research Institute, University of Salford.
Member, Centre for International Security & War Studies, University of Salford.
Lecturer, School of Languages, University of Salford.

Associate Editor, Projections, Journal of the Mackinder Forum.

Member, Editorial Board, L’Espace politique.
Member, International Advisory Board of Editors, Journal of Maltese History.
Member, Editorial Board, Revue française de Civilisation britannique.

Academic year 2008-2009

School of Languages

Semester 1

  • Contemporary Europe, Year 1 [European History since 1914]
  • French History and Contemporary Society, Year 2 [French History, 1789-1889]

Semester 2

MSc Regeneration & Urban Renewal

  • Operational methodologies and techniques for managing the complexity in multi-disciplinary projects [Lecture and Workshop session], 5 February 2009.

Academic year 2009-2010

School of Languages

Semester 1

  • Contemporary Europe, Year 1 [European History since 1914]
  • French History and Contemporary Society, Year 2 [French History, 1789-1889]

Semester 2 [Sabbatical leave]

  • Arab History and Contemporary Society, Year 1, Semester 2
  • French History and Contemporary Society, Year 2, [French History since 1889]
  • History of the Middle East, Year 2

Academic year 2010-2011

Semester 1

  • Contemporary Europe, Year 1 [European History since 1914]
  • French History and Contemporary Society, Year 2 [French History, 1789-1889]
  • Geopolitics of the Middle East

Semester 2

  • Arab History and Contemporary Society, Year 1, Semester 2
  • French History and Contemporary Society, Year 2, [French History since 1889]
  • History of the Middle East, Year 2

Semester 1 (2008-2009)

Home page for the Arab HCS module.

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“Evolving Geopolitical Concepts: Transatlantic security and the Middle East from the Cold War to the Twenty-first century”, The Pierre du Bois Foundation for Current History Geneva & Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, University of Geneva, 23-24 April 2009.

“Sir Halford J. Mackinder and the Invention of Global Geopolitics”, Centre for Security Studies, University of Hull, Kingston-upon-Hull, 11 February 2009.

“Towards a Geopolitics of Complexity: The Cynefin framework and its methodological implications”, British Society for Middle Eastern Studies workshop, University of St. Andrews, 8-9 February 2009.

“Penser le monde: Mackinder et l’invention de la Géopolitique’, L’espace politique: concepts et échelles conference, 2, 3 and 4 avril 2008, Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne (URCA), Rheims, France.

‘L’Entente cordiale et les relations navales franco-britanniques pendant le crise de Tanger (1905-1906). Paper to be given at the conference on La France et les Îles Britanniques : un couple impossible ? Université de Caen, 20-22 september 2007.

“La Méditerranée dans la pensée géostratégique britannique au début du vingtième siècle”, Colloque international Crises, conflits et guerres en Méditerranée (XVIe-XXe siècles) : Histoire et géostratégie, Centre de la Méditerranée Moderne et Contemporaine, Université de Nice-Sophia Antipolis, Nice, 17-19 March 2005

“L’Entente cordiale et le couple franco-allemand de nos jours”, L’Entente cordiale franco-britannique 1904-2004 conference, Université d’Artois, Arras, France, 30-31 September 2004.

“World Policy, Diplomacy and Imperialism: International Relations on the Eve of the Entente Cordiale”, Newfoundland and the Entente Cordiale: A Symposium, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s and Corner Brook, Newfoundland, Canada, 16-21 September 2004.

“Inventing Geopolitics: the Strategic Thought of Halford J. Mackinder”, Research Seminar, Department of History, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada, 16 September 2004.

“Mackinder’s Strategic Thought”, 100 Years of Geopolitics Conference, Mackinder Forum, New College, University of Oxford, 23 March 2004.

With Richard Tholoniat, “French Imperialist Perceptions of Cecil Rhodes”, La France et L’Angleterre au XIXe siècle, échanges, représentations et comparaisons, Université Paris X-Nanterre, and Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, 29-30 January 2004.

“Politique mondiale, défense impériale et convergences franco-britanniques”, L’Entente Cordiale ou l’Improbable Rapprochement Conference, Maison française d’Oxford, University of Oxford, 21-22 November 2003.

“Halford J. Mackinder: Mondialisation, Empire et Citoyenneté”, Citoyenné, Empires et mondialisation Conference, Centre de Recherches sur Civilisations étrangères dans le monde contemporain, Université Blaise Pascal à Clermont-Ferrand, 26-28 September 2003.

“L’Entente cordiale et les relations franco-britanniques de 1904 à 1914″, France et Grande-Bretagne: interactions, représentations mutuelles, comparaisons/France and Britain: cross influences, mutual representations, comparisons, Centre de recherches interculturelles sur les domaines anglophones et francophones, Université Paris XIII, 5 September 2003.

“The Geographical Pivot of History and Early 20th Century International Relations”, Halford Mackinder at 100: Reflections on the ‘Geographical Pivot of History’, International Annual Conference 2003, Royal Geographical Society, London, 3 September 2003.

With Professor Richard Tholoniat (Université du Maine, Le Mans), “French perceptions of Cecil Rhodes and British Imperialism”, Rhodes, his Networks and their Legacies Conference, St. Anthony’s College, University of Oxford, Oxford, 30 November-1 December 2002.

“Un Toulon africain ? : Genèse et développement de la base navale de Bizerte jusqu’en 1914″, Colloque Les navigations organisées et les stations navales en Méditerranée depuis le XV°, Société Française d’Histoire Maritime, Toulon, France, 12-14 September 2002.

“The French Navy and the ‘Eastern Arc of Empire’, 1898-1907: Imperial Defence and Naval Strategy”, The Hexagone and Beyond: France, Europe, and the Wider World, Society for the Study of French History Sixteenth Annual Conference, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, 4-6 April 2002.

“France and the Origins of World War One”, The Causes and Consequences of World War One Conference, School of Languages and Area Studies and Centre for European Studies Research, University of Portsmouth, 6 March 2002.

“French Naval Strategy and Imperial Defence in the Far East, 1898-1907″, The Fifteenth Naval History Symposium, U. S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Md., USA, 12-13 Sept. 2001. Cancelled on 11 September 2001.

With Dr Michael F. Hopkins, “An Intellectual in Politics: Raymond Aron and the Algerian War”. Joint paper delivered by co-author at the Twelfth Annual Conference of the British International History Group, British International Studies Association, University of Wales Conference Centre, Gregynog, Wales, September 2000.

With Dr Michael F. Hopkins, “Raymond Aron, the Algerian War and France’s Position in the World”. Joint paper delivered by co-author at the Raymond Aron international conference, Budapest University of Economic Sciences and Public Administration, Joseph Kàrolyi Foundation, Budapest, Hungary, October 2000.

“Défense impériale, politique des points d’appui de la flotte et arsenaux coloniaux (1898-1905)”. Paper given at the international conference Les bases et arsenaux français d’outre-mer, du Second Empire à nos jours, Centre des Hautes Etudes de l’Armement/Comité pour l’Histoire de l’Armement and Service historique de la Marine, Ecole Militaire, Paris, France, May 2000.

“Théophile Delcassé et la question de l’intervention dans la guerre des Boers (octobre 1899-mars 1900)”. 1898 and all …”, Les Relations Franco-Britanniques depuis 1898/Anglo-French Relations Since Fashoda International Conference, Université Michel de Montaigne - Bordeaux III, Bordeaux, France, November 1998.

“Delcassé et les relations franco-britanniques pendant la guerre des Boers”. Colloque international Delcassé et l’Europe à la veille de la Grande Guerre, University of Toulouse-Le Mirail/Archives départementales de l’Ariège, Foix, France, October 1998.

“Une campagne de propagande coloniale: Gallieni, Lyautey et la défense du régime militaire à Madagascar (1899-1900)”. Paper given at the Propaganda and Empire in France Conference, University of Portsmouth and Institut Français, London, September 1997.

“French Foreign Policy during the Early Stages of the Anglo-Boer War 1899-1900: Towards a Reinterpretation of the Genesis of the Entente Cordiale? “. Paper given at the Annual Meeting of the Society for the Study of French History 1997, University of Birmingham, March 1997.

“Le Général Lyautey et le Maroc Oriental de 1907 à 1910″, 22nd Meeting of the French Colonial Historical Society, Université de Poitiers, Poitiers (France), June 1996.

“France and the Algerian War, 1954-1962″, Invited lecture given at the Liverpool Hope University College, Liverpool, March 1996.

“French Attitudes towards the Boer War, 1899-1902″. Paper given at the South Africa 1895-1921: Test of Empire Conference, St Edmund Hall, Oxford, March 1996.

“Le Général Lyautey et le Maroc Oriental (1907-1910)”. Paper given at the Rencontres Oujda Millénaire: Mutations et devenirs d’une ville frontière, XIX°-XX° Siècles, Institut Français de l’Oriental - French Embassy in Morocco; Ujda, Morocco, November 1995.

“French Imperialism and Pre-Colonial Rebellions in Eastern Morocco”. Civil War and Rebellion Conference, Institute for the Study of War and Society, De Montfort University, Bedford, September 1995.

“Army and Politics in Fin de Siècle France: The case of Lyautey”. Fin de Siècles Conference, Bath College of Higher Education, Bath, July 1995.

“Les Débuts de la Carrière Coloniale de Lyautey (1894-1912)”. Séminaires de la formation doctorale Histoire d’Outre-Mer, Université de Provence, April 1991.

“The Genesis of Lyautey’s Colonial Thought”. European Science Foundation First Summer Course in the History of European Expansion, Churchill College, University of Cambridge. July 1990.

“Lyautey et l’Idée de Protectorat de 1894 à 1912, Genèse d’une Doctrine Coloniale”. Séminaires de la formation doctorale Histoire d’Outre-Mer, Université de Provence. March 1990.

Books

Lyautey avant Lyautey (Paris & Montreal : L’Harmattan, 1997), pp. 291. ISBN 2-7384-5674-X.

Inventing Geopolitics ? Sir Halford J. Mackinder’s Strategic Thought (London: Routledge). In preparation.

Special issues

2009. (ed). Geopolitics. Special issue on Systemic Geopolitics. In preparation.

2010. (ed). L’Espace Politique. Special issue on Geopolitics. In preparation.

Articles

Forthcoming:

“Penser le monde: Mackinder et l’invention de la Géopolitique’, forthcoming in S. Rosière, C. Vacchiani-Marcuzzo, K. Cox et C. Dahlman, Penser l’espace politique (Paris: Éditions Ellipses).

‘L’Entente cordiale et les relations navales franco-britanniques pendant le crise de Tanger (1905-1906). Paper to be published in the proceedings of the international conference on La France et les îles Britanniques : un couple impossible ? Université de Caen, 20-22 september 2007.

“L’invention du Middle East, 1900-1922”, Outre-Terre, Revue française de Géopolitique, Forthcoming.

“Currents in Geopolitical Thought”, Projections, The Journal of the Mackinder Forum. Forthcoming.

Published:

“World Policy, Diplomacy and Imperialism: International Relations on the Eve of the Entente Cordiale”, Newfoundland Studies, 2007, special issue on Newfoundland and the Entente cordiale.

With Richard Tholoniat, French Imperialist Perceptions of Cecil Rhodes”, in Sylvie Aprile and Fabrice Bensimon (editors), La France et L’Angleterre au XIXe siècle, échanges, représentations et comparaisons (Paris : Editions Créaphis, 2005).

“Politique mondiale, défense impériale et convergences franco-britanniques”, Franco-British Studies, 2004, no 35, pp. 19-34.

“The diplomatic context : Britain and International Relations around 1904″, in Brian W. Blouet (editor), The Geographical Pivot of History: Halford Mackinder and the Defence of the West (London: Frank Cass, 2005), pp. 93-106.

The Geographical Pivot of History and Early 20th Century Geopolitical Culture“, Geographical Journal, vol. 170, no 4, December 2004, pp. 330-336.

“La politique extérieure édouardienne et l’Entente cordiale” in Relations Internationales, n°117, printemps 2004 (avril-mai), Cent ans d’Entente cordiale, pp. 11-21.

“Genèse et développement de la base navale de Bizerte jusqu’en 1914: un Toulon africain?”, in André Leroy et Christiane Villain-Gandossi (ed.), Les navigations organisées et les stations navales en Méditerranée, Ollioules: Editions de la Nerthe/Société Française d’Histoire Maritime, 2004), pp. 109-122. ISBN 2-913483-44-5.

“Défense impériale et politique des points d’appui de la flotte (1898-1905)”, in Anne Rasmunsen (ed.), Les bases et arsenaux français outre-mer, du Second Empire à nos jours (Paris: Editions Lavauzelle, 2002), pp. 99-111. ISBN 2-7025-0829-4.

With Michael F. Hopkins, “Raymond Aron, la guerre d’Algérie et la place de la France dans le monde”, in Angelica Karolyi (ed.), Actualité de la pensée de Raymond Aron après la fin du monde bipolaire (Paris: Editions Fallois, 2002), pp. 221-233.

“Théophile Delcassé and the question of intervention in the Boer War, 1899-1901″, in Michael Dockrill and Philippe Chassaigne (editors), Anglo-French Relations 1898-1998: From Fashoda to Jospin (London: Palgrave, 2001), pp. 44-55.

“A Campaign of Colonial Propaganda: Gallieni, Lyautey and the Defence of the Military Regime in Madagascar, 1899-1900″, in Anthony Chafer and Amanda Shakur (editors), Promoting the Colonial Idea: Propaganda and Visions of Empire in France (London & New York: Palgrave, November 2001). 0-333-79180-0.

With Michael F. Hopkins, “Raymond Aron: az algériai háborúról és Franciaország helyéröl a világban”, in Sándor Csizmadia (ed.), Aron: Politikai szabadság és korultekintés Körültekintés Erkölcsisége (Budapest: Aula University Press/Budapest University of Economics and Public Administration, 2001), pp. 205-217. ISBN 963 9345 30 X.

“French Foreign Policy and the Boer War” in Keith Wilson (ed.), The International Impact of the Boer War (London: Acumen & New York: Palgrave, 2001), pp. 65-78. ISBN 1-902683-18-8 & 1-902683-19-6.

“Delcassé et les relations franco-britanniques pendant les débuts de la guerre des Boers”, in Louis Claeys, Claudine Pailhès et Rémy Pech (editors), Delcassé et l’Europe à la veille de la Grande Guerre (Foix : Archives départementales de l’Ariège, 2001), pp. 247-260. ISBN 2-86009-005-3.

“French Imperialism and Pre-Colonial Rebellions in Eastern Morocco, 1903-1910′ in The Journal of North African Studies, Vol. 2, No. 2 (1997), pp. 57-67.

“French Foreign Policy during the Early Stages of the Anglo-Boer War 1899-1900: Towards a Reinterpretation of the Genesis of the Entente Cordiale?”, The French Historian, Vol. 12, no 1, Autumn 1997, pp. 28-29.

“Mythes et réalités d’une politique indigène à Madagascar: Lyautey et la soumission de Rabezavana (1897-1899)”, in Marc Michel and Yvan-Georges Paillard (editors), Australes, Etudes historiques aixoises sur l’Afrique australe et l’Océan indien occidental (Paris: L’Harmattan, 1996), pp. 175-189.

“Lyautey and the Dreyfus Affair: Un Officier Intellectuel?”, Working Papers in Contemporary History and Politics, no 10, European Studies Research Institute, University of Salford, March 1996.

“Le Maréchal Lyautey (1854-1934), Essai de bibliographie”, in Yvan-George Paillard (ed.), Mélanges Jean-Louis Miège, (Aix-en-Provence: Institut d’Histoire des Pays d’Outre-Mer-Université de Provence, 1992), pp. 167-197.

“Lyautey avant le Maroc ou la Formation d’un Proconsul (1894-1912)”, Revue Maroc-Europe, Histoire-Economies-Sociétés, 1991, 1, pp. 287-289.

“Lyautey et l’idée de Protectorat de 1894 à1902, Genèse d’une Doctrine Coloniale”, Revue Française d’Histoire d’Outre-Mer, Vol. LXXVIII, no 293, 4th trimester 1991, pp. 499-517.

“Le Comité de Madagascar (1894-1911)”, Omaly sy Anio (Revue d’Histoire, Université de Madagascar), vol. 28, 1988 (Published in 1992), pp. 43-56.

Contact

Email: pascal.venier@gmail.com

Gtalk: pascal.venier@gmail.com

Skype: pascalvenier

Twitter: pascal_venier

Telephone (Mobile): +44 (0)787 115 76 65

The University of Salford announces the establishment of the University of Salford Centre for the Study of Islam in the Modern World (CSIMW). Bringing together over 30 academics working in this area across the University, the Centre aims to encourage the study of the Islamic World, relations between the Islamic World and the West, Islam in the West, and Islam in the North West of England. At the heart of this enterprise is a concern to foster better mutual understanding and to contribute to dialogue between civilisations. The Centre intends to offer a wide range of programmes and activities and to play an active role in promoting the study of the Arabic language and Islamic Studies amongst academics, students and the general public though lectures, seminars and conferences, short courses and languages classes.

Specific areas of interest include:

1. Islam and/in the Islamic World

Centre scholars have expertise in Islamic jurisprudence, Middle East politics, security studies, colonialism, criminology, Islamic fundamentalism, terrorism, the history of colonial North Africa, the contemporary Maghreb, Islam and non-Muslim minorities in the Islamic world, Muslim minorities in Britain, reformist voices in contemporary Islam, geopolitics of the Middle East, Arabic language and linguistics, and Arabic translation studies.

2. Islam and/in the West

The presence of large Muslim communities in Western European countries is sociologically important. Islamist movements also have a presence among European Muslim communities. Centre researchers have expertise in the study of relations between the Islamic World and the West, with particular reference to inter-cultural relations, Islam and the challenges of modernity, Islamic discourses on gender and human rights, Islam in popular culture, Arabs and Muslims within the political process in the US and other western countries, British Muslims and crime, and Muslim prisoners and ex-offenders.

3.  Muslim communities in North-West England

The Centre intends to set up projects focusing on issues of particular importance to these communities, thereby facilitating inter-faith and inter-community relations in North-West England. It also aims to look at ways for the University of Salford to engage more directly with Islamic communities, for example by offering short courses in Arabic for Islamic studies, aimed primarily at Muslims living in the North-West.

4. Membership

The bulk of members of the Centre are academic staff at the University of Salford. However, membership is not confined to Salford staff. The Centre welcomes applications for associate membership from staff at other universities and from non-academics working in its areas of interest.

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Pascal Venier, The Geographical Pivot of History and Early 20th Century Geopolitical Culture”, Geographical Journal, vol. 170, no 4, December 2004, pp. 330-336.

Notice is hereby given that this is an electronic version of an article published in the Geographical Journal, complete citation information for the final version of the paper, as published in the print edition of the Geographical Journal, is available on the Blackwell Synergy online delivery service, accessible via the journal’s website at http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0016-7398 or http://www.blackwell-synergy.com or http://www.blackwell-synergy.com.

Abstract

This article offers a re-interpretation of the geographical pivot of history by setting it in the context of the international relations and strategic debates of the early twentieth century, and by engaging with the historiography of British foreign policy during the Edwardian period. The overall argument is that the prospective effort of Mackinder does not appear as merely speculative but is in fact rather well grounded in the fundamentals of British foreign policy and more directly relevant than hitherto assumed. Identifying a trend towards a shift in the equilibrium between land power and sea power, Mackinder emphasized – and perhaps over-emphasized – a Russian threat to British interests but considered that Germany alone only posed a minor threat. Such analysis seems to be remarkably in tune with British geopolitical culture around 1904, and with the ideas of the British Prime Minister Arthur Balfour. The way in which Mackinder further stressed that a combination of the two main continental powers would represent a major peril for Britain has hitherto been treated rather dismissively. This article however shows how twice during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–5 Wilhelm II attempted to bring such an alliance about. This article attempts to reassess the actual impact of the geographical pivot of history and more broadly of Mackinder’s thought, usually considered minimal, on British foreign policy before 1914. Finally, a number of issues that seem to deserve further attention are suggested, in particular that of the influence exerted by Mackinder before 1914, and that of the genesis of Mackinder’s conception of the ‘pivot zone’ or ‘heartland’.

Pascal Venier, “French Imperialism and pre-colonial rebellions in Eastern Morocco, 1903-1910″, Journal of North African History, vol. 2, No 2 (Autumn 1997), pp. 57-67.

DOI: 10.1080/13629389708718296

Abstract

This study, primarily concerned with attitudes towards rebellions, is an attempt to analyse the interaction between the French imperialist process in Morocco and the state of quasi-civil war of the Sharifian Empire in the early years of the twentieth century.’ For the French military responsible for the Algero-Moroccan borderland, it was a striking reality that the Sultan of Morocco was exercising little and sometimes no authority on the tribes at the periphery of his empire. This bilad as-siba, literally the land of dissidence, was depicted by the French authorities and later by colonial historiography as a good illustration of so-called ‘Moroccan anarchy’. The rebellions of Eastern Morocco, provided the ‘men on the spot’ with a complex political reality, which was alternatively perceived as a threat, a potential to promote a forward policy despite the opposition of the metropolis, and even as a field of experimentation for a indigenous policy which could be applied to the whole of Morocco.

Reprint available on request from pascal.venier@gmail.com