New Books in Economic and Business History

Bram de Maeyer, "Building for Belgium: Belgian Embassies in a Globalising World (1945-2020)" (Leuven UP, 2025)

Jan 28, 2026

Bram de Maeyer, historian and author specializing in diplomatic architecture, explores Belgian purpose-built embassies from 1945–2020. He discusses why states build embassies, how local planning and ambassadors shape design, and embassies as instruments of national image, art politics, economic diplomacy and real estate strategy. He also recounts archival challenges and previews research on an unbuilt 1942 pavilion.

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Books

Transcript

Episode notes

INSIGHT

Embassies As Political Architecture

Bram de Maeyer frames embassies as deliberate investments in political representation through architecture and design.
He asks how Belgium used purpose-built embassies (1945–2020) to project national identity abroad.

INSIGHT

Starting From A Blank Page Matters

Purpose-built embassies start from a blank page, forcing choices about site, architect, and materials.
Those choices reveal how strongly a state wants to shape its image abroad.

ADVICE

Build Only When Needs And Signaling Align

Build new chancery space when staff growth or mission needs make existing offices inadequate.
Use construction to signal diplomatic commitment, but expect internal lobbying for funds.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Get the app

Embassy buildings are the most tangible evidence of a state’s diplomatic presence abroad. State authorities have invested in the architectural conception of purpose-built embassies to flex their diplomatic muscle and project nationhood on foreign soil. While scholars have primarily focused on purpose-built embassies of (former) world powers, Building for Belgium: Belgian Embassies in a Globalising World (1945-2020) (Leuven UP, 2025) by Dr. Bram de Maeyer shifts the perspective by scrutinising the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ embassy-building programme from 1945 to 2020.

Rather than a conventional political assessment of diplomatic relations, the book foregrounds the often-overlooked architectural lives of embassies and their social, economic, and political entanglements. By examining Belgian embassy projects across all continents, it reveals how the Belgian diplomatic corps has navigated diverse political regimes, geopolitical contexts, cultures, and building codes. More than the outcome of a deliberate policy, the embassy-building programme has been shaped by incidental decisions, private ambitions and personal tastes of Belgian diplomats, ministry officials and politicians.

Building for Belgium not only sheds light on diplomatic architecture but also connects domestic conversations about architecture in Belgium with global state-building projects. Offering fresh insights into the politics of space, it will be of value to scholars and practitioners in architecture, urban studies, international relations, cultural heritage, and Belgian and European studies.

This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda’s interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices