Empires

The youth exchange gathered 33 participants from Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Estonia and Spain from 15th to 25th September 2025 . During the project, young people explored topic of empires. 

The goal of this project was to better understand the impact of empires on peace, war, democracy, and human rights. The project was focused on analyzing historical events and applying historical lessons to the modern world.

The topics we addressed included:

1. The creation of the idea of empire as a tool for spreading the light (Persia).

2. Goals and achievements of ancient empires – Roman Empire, China, Umayyads, Inca, etc.

3. Anti-imperialism at the heart of Western Civilization – Ancient Greece (fighting off Persian invasions) and the Bible (slavery in Egypt and Babylon).

4. Whether colonial empires were any different from ancient empires.

5. Colonial empires developing a “conscience”: case study of Congo.

6. Empires and world peace: lessons from history.
   a. Polycentric world – many empires coexisted in harmony – ended in WWI.
   b. Dual world – two empires competed for power – ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union.
   c. Hegemony – one empire dominated the world – was U.S. hegemony ending with Trump?
   d. No empires – thought experiment.

7. The consequences for peace, human rights, and democracy of the United States withdrawing as the dominant empire.

8. Who should replace the United States of America as the dominant empire? Could the United Nations become the new and improved empire?