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The two centuries after 1800 witnessed a series of sweeping changes in the way in which Britain was governed, the duties of the state, and its role in the wider world. Powerful processes - from the development of democracy, the changing nature of the social contract, war, and economic dislocation - have challenged, and at times threatened to overwhelm, both governors and governed. Such shifts have also presented challenges to the historians who have researched and written about Britain's past politics.
This Handbook shows the ways in which political historians have responded to these challenges, providing a snapshot of a field which has long been at the forefront of conceptual and methodological innovation within historical studies. It comprises thirty-three thematic essays by leading and emerging scholars in the field. Collectively, these essays assess and rethink the nature of modern British political history itself and suggest avenues and questions for future research. The Oxford Handbook of Modern British Political History thus provides a unique resource for those who wish to understand Britain's political past and a thought-provoking 'long view' for those interested in current political challenges.
List of contents
- 1: David Brown, Robert Crowcroft, and Gordon Pentland: Introduction
- Part I. Concepts and Historiographies
- 2: David Craig: Political Ideas and Languages
- 3: Steven Fielding: High Politics
- 4: Malcolm Chase: Popular Politics
- Part II. Institutions, Structures and Machinery
- 5: Philip Harling: The State
- 6: Philip Salmon: Parliament
- 7: Andrew Blick: Prime Minister and Cabinet
- 8: Hugh Pemberton: The Civil Service
- 9: Richard Whiting: Trade Unions
- 10: David Brown: The Press
- 11: James Mitchell: Devolution
- 12: Ben Weinstein: Local Government
- 13: Andrzej Olechnowicz: The Monarchy
- 14: Simon Green: Religion and the Churches
- Part III. Parties, Doctrines and Leaders
- 15: Angus Hawkins: Political Parties
- 16: Jeremy Nuttall: Ideology in Action
- 17: Ian Packer: Whigs and Liberals
- 18: John Charmley: Tories and Conservatives
- 19: Lawrence Black: The Labour Party
- 20: Kevin Morgan: 'Third' and Fringe Parties
- 21: Robert Crowcroft: The Role of the Politician in the Democratic Regime
- Part IV. Elections and Popular Politics
- 22: Gordon Pentland: Parliamentary Reform
- 23: Luke Blaxill: Elections
- 24: Jennifer Davey: Women and Politics
- 25: Laura Beers: Political Communication
- 26: Henry Miller: Petitioning and Demonstrating
- Part V. Challenges
- 27: James Thompson: Democracy
- 28: Jim Tomlinson: The Economy
- 29: Simon Smith: Imperial Policy
- 30: Simon Ball: War and the State
- 31: Geoff Hicks: Britain and Europe
- 32: Pat Thane: Welfare and the State
- Epilogue
- 33: Anthony Seldon and Mark Davies: In Defence of Contemporary History
About the author
David Brown studied at the Universities of East Anglia (BA), Wales (MA) and Southampton (PhD), before moving to Glasgow in 2001 to take up a lectureship in History at the University of Strathclyde, where he was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2007. In 2012 he moved to the University of Southampton as Professor of Modern History and since January 2016 he has been Head of the Department of History.
Robert Crowcroft studied History at the University of Leeds and was appointed as a Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh in 2011. He held an AHRC Early Career Fellowship in 2013-2014, and was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2017. His interests centre on the character of democratic politics.
Gordon Pentland graduated from the University of Oxford in 1999 and returned to his hometown of Edinburgh to complete an MSc in 2000 and a PhD in 2004, after which he worked for eighteen months as a lecturer in European history at the University of York. He returned to Edinburgh in 2006 to take up a two-year Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship followed by a lectureship in history. He was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2011 and to Reader in 2013.
Summary
A new title in the Oxford Handbooks series, offering an authoritative view of British political history from 1800 to 2000, engaging with the sweeping changes in the ways in which Britain was governed, the duties of the state, and its role in the wider world, and suggesting avenues of future research.
Additional text
paint[s] a wide-ranging canvas that touches on most of the important topics in British political history ... Recommended.
Report
[The book] is best understood as a well-appointed historiographical labyrinth. You never have the first idea what will be around the next corner, and this makes for an unusual, occasionally bewildering, and often highly-rewarding reading experience. There is no historian in the field who will not get something out of the volume, provided they do not step in expecting something different. Alex Middleton, Parliamentary History
