The Evolution of Concepts and Practices of Development Cooperation: the Lomé Convention(1975-1995)

• Historical Archives of the European Union
• Department of History
• The Alcide De Gasperi Research Centre

University of Turin doctoral researcher Alessandro Favilli will discuss his archival research on the Lomé Convention, tracing out the emergence of human rights objectives in European development projects in African, Caribbean and Pacific States.

In this Alcide De Gasperi Seminar, Alessandro Favili will discuss his investigation of the introduction of human rights objectives into the Lomé Convention framework, which emerged in the 1990s. 

Until 1993, the development and cooperation agreement between Europe and countries from Africa, the Caribbean, and the Pacific was based solely on economic considerations and political neutrality. 

His political and intellectual history account of such a shift in the European Economic Community's external policy is based on newly opened archives from the Historical Archives of the European Union and the French National Archives.

The Alcide De Gasperi Centre supports researchers working in areas related to the history of European integration and cooperation. It coordinates networks of historians, facilitates the use of primary sources and increases public interest in the history of European integration.

Banner image: François-Xavier Ortoli signing the Lomé agreement with the ACP countries, 1975. HAEU FXO-330-I.5 © Ortoli family, used with permission