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Research on politics of memory has traditionally focused on national governments, state institutions, and elite-led narratives. Yet cities and regions increasingly emerge as influential actors shaping how the past is commemorated, contested, and mobilized. Through monuments, museums, education, heritage policies, international partnerships, and symbolic diplomacy, subnational governments contribute to the construction of collective memory while interacting with national and international political processes.
This panel seeks to advance the study of subnational politics of memory by bringing together scholars examining the role of local and regional actors across diverse political and geographical contexts. Both theoretical and empirical contributions that explore how politics of memory is produced, negotiated, and contested below the national level, are welcomed.
Possible topics include, but are not limited to:
• subnational governments as memory actors;
• heritage management and memorialization practices at subnational level;
• cities and regions in historical reconciliation;
• paradiplomacy and memory;
• local memories as part of nation-building process;
• multilevel governance of memory;
• contested memories and how subnational initiatives interact with state-level politics of memory;
• methodological and conceptual approaches to studying subnational politics of memory.
The panel particularly encourages comparative, interdisciplinary, and theoretically informed research that moves beyond state-centric approaches to politics of memory. Contributions from all world regions are welcome. By focusing on the subnational dimension of politics of memory, the panel aims to foster dialogue across comparative politics, public policy, urban studies, nationalism studies, international relations, and memory studies, while contributing to a more comprehensive understanding of how historical narratives are shaped in contemporary multilevel world.