Constantin Ardeleanu

Duration of stay: April 2024

Constantin Ardeleanu is Senior Researcher at the Institute for South-East European History and Long-Term Fellow at the New Europe College, Bucharest, specialised in the social and economic history of Danubian Europe and the Black Sea region since the 18th century. Formerly a Professor of Modern Romanian history at Dunărea de Jos University of Galaţi, he has extensively published on topics related to the opening of the Black Sea to international trade and shipping, and the market integration of South-Eastern European port cities. Constantin Ardeleanu holds a PhD in History at the ‘Nicolae Iorga’ History Institute in Bucharest, with a dissertation on ‘British Economic and Political Interests at the Lower Danube (1856–1918)’. Currently PI of the Romanian-funded research project "Entangled Histories of the Danubian Quarantine System (1774–1914)," Ardeleanu will lead the sub-group "Old practices, new interactions? Favouritism, interests, patronage" in TransCorr, focusing on micro-historical case studies within Central-South-East Europe to analyse various forms of favouritism, patron-client ties, and informal associations during the period. His research examines how mercantile networks adapted to modern capitalism, and how interactions within these networks and with public authorities reshaped the political and economic landscape in South-East Europe’s imperial borderlands.

In his latest book The European Commission of the Danube, 1856–1948. An Experiment in International Administration(Brill: Leiden and Boston, 2020), he provides a history of the world’s second international organisation, an innovative techno-political institution established by Europe’s Concert of Powers to remove insecurity from the Lower Danube.

During his stay, he will give a talk as part of a collaboration with the seeFField SNAKLAB series on 24 April at 16:00 in Room 017 at the Altes Finanzamt (Landshuter Str. 4). In the talk he will discuss the history and current political significance of the Black Sea island, Snake Island. For more details about "The Snake Island from Achilles to Zelenskyy" click here.