The Lausanne Project

This project takes its name from the last of the post-WW1 peace treaties that was signed on 24 July 1923. Its centenary in 2023 is much more than a convenient hook. With Lausanne, the re-drawing of the borders of what was then called the ‘Near East’ was sanctioned and a blueprint was created for new partitions. 

In this looking-glass world a treaty has become part of a narrative in the new global imperial order as well as victimization. Meanwhile the treaty's population exchanges, viewed for decades as a successful exercise and model worthy of emulation (notably in India and Serbia/Kosovo today) have also been radically re-evaluated, and are now recognized as ethnic cleansing. Finally political scientists and others interested in EU/Turkey relations in the era of the Syrian migrant crisis have begun to appreciate that events in the Aegean and on the Syrian Turkish border both have their roots, not in events since 1989, but in the Lausanne settlement.

Finally political scientists and others interested in EU/Turkey relations in the era of the Syrian migrant crisis have begun to appreciate that events in the Aegean and on the Syrian Turkish border both have their roots, not in events since 1989, but in the Lausanne settlement.

The Lausanne Project bridges the divide separating diplomatic and economic historians from social anthropologists and scholars of international law and political science, and run interdisciplinary joint projects that include museum exhibitions, teaching packages, a graphic novel, workshops, conferences and blog/podcast series on how a new world order was formed in 1923, and how its history has been weaponised in global and regional governance.

More information about The Lausanne Project.

Project Members