The theme of the Vienna Humanities Festival 2025 is “On Edge/Unbehagen.” Life-changing technological innovation is advancing at an often unpredictable pace. Liberalism is under sustained attack, as is faith in basic scientific principles. Compassion is increasingly displaced by brutal transactional values. Can humanity remain human under such strenuous circumstances? This year's Humanities Festival will contribute to the discussion of these impediments and the questions they give rise to, by inviting the public to reflect with intellectuals, scientists, writers, and artists.
In her keynote lecture, American historian Natasha Wheatley will elaborate on the main insights from her widely acclaimed book The Life and Death of States: Central Europe and the Transformation of Modern Sovereignty. This profound exploration of how the Habsburg Empire’s complex legal and political landscape influenced modern concepts of statehood and sovereignty shows how the dissolution of the Habsburg Empire created a precedent for newly formed states to claim legitimacy based on historical sovereignty. Wheatley traces how these legal arguments resonated beyond Central Europe, informing decolonization efforts and the emergence of new nations in the mid-20th century.
Natasha Wheatley is a scholar of modern European and international history, with interests in intellectual and legal history, Central Europe, and international law. Currently an assistant professor of history at Princeton University, Wheatley is the co-editor of Remaking Central Europe: The League of Nations and the Former Habsburg Lands and Power and Time: Temporalities in Conflict and the Making of History. Her latest book is The Life and Death of States: Central Europe and the Transformation of Modern Sovereignty (Princeton University Press, 2023).
The lecture will be followed by a conversation with Matti Bunzl, director of the Wien Museum.
