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This book covers the history of British electioneering from the 18th century right up to the present day. It explores the relationship between British politicians and their public as well as the important changes that have taken place, especially in the television age. It examines what the current state of electioneering in Britain implies for the future, asking questions as to how the media can shape that future. The book argues that in the past, British politics has been characterized by public rituals, intended to make politicians more legitimate by obliging them to face an often irreverent public. In 18th-century politics and Victorian and Edwardian elections, face-to-face interaction was central. This continued between the wars, despite the emergence of the new mass communication media of radio and cinema. However, the same cannot be said of the post-war era and the rise of television. Today, most politicians are content to offer the semblance of meaningful engagement with the public — hence, meetings are designed to ensure that politicians only come into contact with their party. Where Lloyd George and Churchill relished a tumultuous public meeting, their modern counterparts are more risk-averse. This book questions whether we can persuade our broadcasters that encounters with the public must form a staple of modern politics.

What is the state? The State of Freedom offers an important new take on this classic question by exploring what exactly the state did and how it worked. Patrick Joyce asks us to re-examine the ordinary things of the British state from dusty government files and post offices to well-thumbed primers in ancient Greek and Latin and the classrooms and dormitories of public schools and Oxbridge colleges. This is also a history of the 'who' and the 'where' of the state, of the people who ran the state, the government offices they sat in and the college halls they dined in. Patrick Joyce argues that only by considering these things, people and places can we really understand the nature of the modern state. This is both a pioneering new approach to political history in which social and material factors are centre stage, and a highly original history of modern Britain.

This groundbreaking study offers a genuinely multidisciplinary exploration of cultural influences on foreign policy. Through an innovative blend of historical analysis, neoclassical realist theory, and cultural studies, Amelia Hadfield-Amkhan shows how national identity has been a catalyst for British foreign policy decisions, helping the state to both define and defend itself. Representing key points of crisis from the past two centuries, her case studies include the 1882 attempt to construct a channel tunnel to France, the frantic 1909 Dreadnought race with Germany, the 1982 Falklands War with Argentina, and the 2003 decision to remain outside the Eurozone. The author argues that these events, marking the decline of a great power, have forced Britain's society and government into periods of deep self-reflection that are carved into its culture and etched into its policy stances on central issues of sovereignty, territorial integrity, international recognition, and even monetary policy.

The Derbys of Knowsley Hall have been neglected by historians to an astonishing degree. In domestic political terms, the legacies of Disraeli and his Conservative successors have long obscured their Lancastrian aristocratic predecessors. As far as foreign policy is concerned, twentieth century politics and scholarship have often suggested crude polarities: for example, the idea of 'appeasement' versus Churchillian belligerence has its nineteenth century equivalent in Aberdeen's apparent rivalry with Palmerston. The subtleties of other views, such as those represented by the Derbys, have either been overlooked or misunderstood. In addition, the fact that much crucial archival and editorial work has only been carried out in the last two decades has had a significant impact. Examining a range of topics in domestic and foreign policy, this collection brings a fresh approach to the political history of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries through a series of innovative essays. It will appeal to those with an interest in the decline of the aristocracy, Victorian high politics and the politics of the regions, as well as the Conservative tradition in foreign policy.

Traditional analyses of nineteenth-century politics have assigned women a peripheral role. By adopting a broader interpretation of political participation, the author identifies how middle-class women were able to contribute to political affairs in the nineteenth century. Examining the contribution that women made to British political life in the period 1800-1870 stimulates debates about gender and politics, the nature of authority and the definition of political culture. This volume examines female engagement in both traditional and unconventional political arenas, including female sociability, salons, child-rearing and education, health, consumption, religious reform and nationalism. Richardson focuses on middle-class women’s social, cultural, intellectual and political authority, as implemented by a range of public figures and lesser-known campaigners. The activists discussed and their varying political, economic and religious backgrounds will demonstrate the significance of female interventions in shaping the political culture of the period and beyond.

This volume offers an alternative way of conceiving the history of Britain by excavating and exploring the numerous ways in which South Asians in Britain engaged in radical discourse and political activism from 1858 to 1947, before their more permanent migration and settlement. The book focuses on a tumultuous period of resistance against the backdrop of high imperialism under the reign of Victoria, through the turmoil of two World Wars and Partition in 1947. As well as addressing resistances against empire and hierarchies of race, the authors investigate how South Asians in Britain mobilized to campaign for women's suffrage (the Indian princess Sophia Duleep Singh), for example, or for an international socialism (the Communist MP Shapurji Saklatvala), thereby contributing to and complicating notions of freedom, equality and justice.' This volume reframes these pioneers as social and political agents and activists and shows how Britain's contemporary multicultural society is rooted in their mobilization for equality of citizenship.

Popular Politics in Nineteenth Century England provides an accessible introduction to the culture of English popular politics between 1815 and 1900, the period from Luddism to the New Liberalism. This is an area that has attracted great historical interest and has undergone fundamental revision in the last two decades. Did the industrial revolution create the working class movement or was liberalism (which transcended class divisions) the key mode of political argument? Rohan McWilliam brings this central debate up to date for students of Nineteenth Century British History. He assesses popular ideology in relation to the state, the nation, gender and the nature of party formation, and reveals a much richer social history emerging in the light of recent historiographical developments.

This book brings together the articles of J.R. Dinwiddy to show both the coherence and importance of his contribution to British history in this period. His work covers the spectrum of political activity and thought from the Whigs to the Luddites and from Burke via Bentham to Marx.

Aspects of British History, 1815-1914 addresses the major issues of this much-studied period in a clear and digestible form. Introduces a fresh feel to long-studied topics Consolidates a grest deal of recent research Carefully organised to reflect the way teachers tackle this course Written by and experienced and renowned textbook author Illustrated with helpful maps and photographs

Between 1812 and 1821 Goulburn worked in the War and Colonial Office, where he effectively administered Britain's far-flung possessions. Appointed chief secretary for Ireland in 1821 -- a Protestant to offset a \"Catholic\" viceroy -- Goulburn was at the heart of the final rearguard action by the opponents of Catholic emancipation. As chancellor of the exchequer for the Duke of Wellington (1828-30) and Sir Robert Peel (1841-46) he participated in such momentous decisions as Catholic emancipation and the repeal of the Corn Laws. An opponent of parliamentary reform, he worked closely with Peel, his lifelong friend, to build the Conservative Party and served as a parliamentary champion of the Established Church. Jenkins examines the conservative values Goulburn held, and the moral dilemma of an essentially good man who depended on the institution of slavery for his private income.