Research profile

Dr. Matthijs Lok is a senior lecturer (Universitair Docent 1) in Modern European History at the European Studies Department of the University of Amsterdam. He studied European history at the Universities of Liverpool, Leiden and Yale, followed by a short career as policy advisor. In 2009 he took his PhD at the History Department of the University of Amsterdam. He was appointed a senior fellow of the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study NIAS (Yeargroup 2019-20) and the Lichtenberg Kolleg - Göttingen IAS. Lok specialises in the comparative political, cultural and intellectual history of modern Europe in a global context since the 18th century. He is particularly interested in topics on the intersection of history, philosophy, politics and memory. Lok conducted research in the libraries and archives of various European countries.

Research & writing projects

Currently, my main research projects & topics are:

• The global History and Politics of Moderation
• Antiliberal Internationalism (19th-21th c.)
• The (Counter) Enlightenment and its 21th c. political Legacies
• Historical Narratives of Europe (in particular the pluralist idea)
• Cosmopolitanism (and its critics)
• Conservative Parties and the History of Democracy

At the moment I am completing a monograph on 'Counter-revolution, Enlightenment and the Making of the European Past' and edited volumes on 'Cosmopolitan conservatisms' (with Friedemann Pestel & Juliette Reboul) en on 'Monarchisms in Atlantic History' (with Carolina Armenteros & Iason Zarikos)

Teaching

Matthijs Lok enjoys teaching BA and MA courses (in English and Dutch) on subjects such as Political Memories, Legacies of the Enlightenment (nominated for the 2019 Faculty Education Award), Modern Intellectual History, European Conservatism & Anti-Liberalism, Liberalism, Cosmopolitanism, Ordering of Europe and 'Turning points in Modern European History' (Folia magazine wrote about this course: "Lok weet zijn toehoorders door zijn enthousiasme te boeien"). Lok also supervises BA, MA and PhD theses in the field of political and intellectual history. He was a finalist in the 2018 Faculty of Humanities Lecturer of the Year award.

Activities & membership

Lok is a founding director of the Amsterdam Seminar for Global Intellectual History (www.globalintellectualhistory.org/ ) and a themeleader of the Amsterdam Centre for European Studies (ACES). He also organised seminars for the Huizinga Cultural History research school and the research school Political History (OPG). Moreover, he was a member of the board of the De Moderne Tijd  (Belgian - Dutch Society for Nineteenth-  and Twentieth-Century Studies: demodernetijd.nl), and of the board of the ARTES Research School (theme leader 'European Identities and ideas': http://artes.uva.nl). He was, furthermore, a member of the European Studies departmental management board (DB) and of faculty & departemental committees. Finally, Lok regularly organises and moderates public & academic debates and conferences.

Publications:

Monographs

Political Transitions and administrative Elites:

Matthijs Lok, Windvanen. Napoleontische bestuurders in de Nederlandse en de Franse Restauratie, 1813-1820 (Amsterdam: Bert Bakker, 2009), 420 p. 

Contents: my first book Windvanen ('[Political] Weathervanes') is a comparative study of the political transition of 1813-1815 (from the Napoleonic Empire to the Restoration) in France and the Low Countries from the understudied perspective of the Napoleonic administrative elites that survived the regime change. It argues that the so-called Restoration monarchies were to a large extent constructed by Napoleonic officials who adapted very well to the new political situation. As well as (quantitatively) studying the institutional and personal continuity after 1814, the contemporary critical discourses and attitudes towards these political survivors (nicknamed 'girouette' in French or 'windvaan' in Dutch) are analysed. According to NRC Handelsblad, Windvanen was one of the best historical books published in 2009.

Edited volumes & other books

Transnational Conservatism

Edited volume: Matthijs Lok, Friedemann Pestel & Juliette Reboul (eds.), Cosmopolitan Conservatisms. Countering Revolution in transnational networks, ideas and Movements (c. 1700-1930) (Brill Studies in the History of Political Thought, 2021). (350 p.)

Politics of Moderation

Edited volume: Ido de Haan & Matthijs Lok (eds.), The Politics of Moderation in Modern European History (Palgrave Studies in Political History: 2019) (ca. 250p.)

“This wide-ranging, intellectually-bracing volume reconstructs a neglected site of thought and action, which it identifies as a tradition of political moderation ever since the start of the age of democratic revolutions.  In so doing, it offers a bounty of sustained historical and analytical imagination, reshaping inquiry and understanding.” (Ira Katznelson, Columbia University, USA)

Eurocentrism in History & Memory

Edited volume: M. Brolsma, R. de Bruin & Matthijs Lok (editors), Eurocentrism in European History and Memory (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2019).

'This is a very insightful collection of well-written essays, covering a wide range of issues and appealing to a wide public. It is both comprehensive in its outlook, as well as rich in detail. Its refreshing and multifaceted approach provides a welcome contribution to the research on Eurocentrism.'  Journal of European Integration History

On my own chapter: 'Lok makes clear that this appraisal of the idea of Europe as ‘unity in diversity’ was maintained in the writings of influential 19th century historians like Leopold von Ranke. And today the exact same notion is deeply embedded in the political narrative of the European Union to legitimize its policies. Lok convincingly argues that the pluralist idea of Europe thus also brings in prescriptive and normative criteria and not necessarily results in tolerance towards the world beyond pluralist Europe.'  Journal of European Integration History

Global Counter-Enlightenment 

Themed issue (Special collection) of the International Journal for History, Culture and Modernity, vol. 6 issue 1 (2019), co-edited with Joris van Eijnatten (Utrecht University), on the global history of Enlightenment criticism (ca. 1750-1960) in Latin-America, Russia, Spain, Egypt and Continental Europe, with an forum article by Darrin McMahon.

Nationalism & stateformation (1848-1914)

Book: Nationalisme, naties en staten (Vantilt 2012/2015): Matthijs Lok, deel IV: 'IJzer en bloed. Staatsvorming en nationalisme, 1848-1914' (p. 282-411). ["Iron and Blood": Stateformation and Nationalism, 1848-1914 (p. 282-411]

"In een tijd waarin de Europese Unie een bestaanscrisis doormaakt en adepten en bestrijders van de natiestaat elkaar bedelven met argumenten, is dit een welkom overzichtswerk, zowel toegankelijk als noodzakelijke gedetailleerd." De Volkskrant

"Voor de afzienbare tijd is het Nederlandse publiek op benijdenswaardige wijze bediend door deze voortreffelijke synthese." Tijdschrift voor Geschiedenis

The Eighteenth-century Enlightenment

Member of the editorial board (kernredactie) (2007-2015) of the Belgian-Dutch scholarly Journal/ Wetenschappelijk tijdschrift 'De Achttiende eeuw' ("The Eighteenth century") (in 2017 continued as The Early Modern Low Countries & Jaarboek De Achttiende Eeuw).

Special editor (with Alicia C. Montoya) for issue 2012.2 ('Centre and Periphery in the Enlightenment') and 2014.2 ('The Enlightenment and the Past') (see: www.dbnl.org/auteurs/auteur.php?id=_doc003)

Articles & book chapters (selection)

Contemporary Politics & Europe (selection)