E. H. H. Green
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780198205937
- eISBN:
- 9780191717116
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198205937.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Political History
This book investigates developments and changes in the nature of Conservative political thought and the meaning of Conservatism throughout the 20th century. Starting from the Edwardian crisis under ...
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This book investigates developments and changes in the nature of Conservative political thought and the meaning of Conservatism throughout the 20th century. Starting from the Edwardian crisis under Arthur Balfour, the study explores the Conservative mind through a series of chapters that examine how Conservative thinkers, politicians, and activists sought to define the problems they faced, what they thought they were arguing against, and what audiences they were seeking to reach. Topics covered include the influence of the English Idealists, the ideas of Arthur Steel-Maitland, the ending of the 1922 coalition with the Lloyd George Liberals, Conservative Book Clubs, the political economy of Harold Macmillan, the resignation of the Conservative Treasury team under Peter Thorneycroft in 1958, the ideological origins of the Thatcherite revolution under Margaret Thatcher, and Conservative ideas on the role of the State and civil society. It concludes that Conservatism, as articulated throughout the 20th century, can be clearly defined and recognises Thatcherism as a significant departure from previous 20th-century Conservative thought.Less
This book investigates developments and changes in the nature of Conservative political thought and the meaning of Conservatism throughout the 20th century. Starting from the Edwardian crisis under Arthur Balfour, the study explores the Conservative mind through a series of chapters that examine how Conservative thinkers, politicians, and activists sought to define the problems they faced, what they thought they were arguing against, and what audiences they were seeking to reach. Topics covered include the influence of the English Idealists, the ideas of Arthur Steel-Maitland, the ending of the 1922 coalition with the Lloyd George Liberals, Conservative Book Clubs, the political economy of Harold Macmillan, the resignation of the Conservative Treasury team under Peter Thorneycroft in 1958, the ideological origins of the Thatcherite revolution under Margaret Thatcher, and Conservative ideas on the role of the State and civil society. It concludes that Conservatism, as articulated throughout the 20th century, can be clearly defined and recognises Thatcherism as a significant departure from previous 20th-century Conservative thought.
Erin M. Kempker
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780252041976
- eISBN:
- 9780252050701
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5622/illinois/9780252041976.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
This book maps the interplay of conservative and feminist women in Indiana during the second half of the twentieth century and proposes an alternative framework for understanding the second wave ...
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This book maps the interplay of conservative and feminist women in Indiana during the second half of the twentieth century and proposes an alternative framework for understanding the second wave feminist movement. The central theme is that rightwing women’s understanding of one-worldism--a conspiracy theory refined by grassroots anticommunists during the height of the Cold War--shaped conservative women’s response to the second wave feminist movement and circumscribed feminist activism. Over the course of the postwar era, anticommunist organizations like the Minute Women of the U.S.A., Pro America, and the John Birch Society provided a forum for rightwing women to develop their understanding of related forces pushing for a “one-world,” totalitarian supra-government, forces they described as treasonous. While communists often were lumped under the “one-worlder” category, the two were not synonymous. In literature rightwing women described a spectrum of subversion that included a fifth column but also those advocating domestic cooperation through federal regionalism, gender equality as opposed to gender difference, and internationalists advocating stronger authority for the United Nations. The book documents the work of Hoosier feminists to accomplish their goals, especially the Equal Rights Amendment, in a hostile political environment and the work of rightwing women to counter the threat of internationalism or one-worldism, culminating in a showdown at the 1977 International Women’s Year celebration.Less
This book maps the interplay of conservative and feminist women in Indiana during the second half of the twentieth century and proposes an alternative framework for understanding the second wave feminist movement. The central theme is that rightwing women’s understanding of one-worldism--a conspiracy theory refined by grassroots anticommunists during the height of the Cold War--shaped conservative women’s response to the second wave feminist movement and circumscribed feminist activism. Over the course of the postwar era, anticommunist organizations like the Minute Women of the U.S.A., Pro America, and the John Birch Society provided a forum for rightwing women to develop their understanding of related forces pushing for a “one-world,” totalitarian supra-government, forces they described as treasonous. While communists often were lumped under the “one-worlder” category, the two were not synonymous. In literature rightwing women described a spectrum of subversion that included a fifth column but also those advocating domestic cooperation through federal regionalism, gender equality as opposed to gender difference, and internationalists advocating stronger authority for the United Nations. The book documents the work of Hoosier feminists to accomplish their goals, especially the Equal Rights Amendment, in a hostile political environment and the work of rightwing women to counter the threat of internationalism or one-worldism, culminating in a showdown at the 1977 International Women’s Year celebration.
E. H. H. GREEN
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780198205937
- eISBN:
- 9780191717116
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198205937.003.0011
- Subject:
- History, Political History
The chapters in this book identify leitmotifs in Conservative thought which enable one to answer the question ‘What is Conservatism?’ This answer confirms and builds upon arguments developed by ...
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The chapters in this book identify leitmotifs in Conservative thought which enable one to answer the question ‘What is Conservatism?’ This answer confirms and builds upon arguments developed by Anthony Quinton and Michael Oakeshott, particularly the former's ideas of intellectual imperfection, political scepticism, traditionalism, and organicism. At all levels of political debate and action throughout the 20th century, Conservatives articulated a range of positions, norms, and beliefs that were designed to identify the nature and meaning of Conservatism, and which fitted the patterns discerned by Quinton and Oakeshott, with the exception of Thatcherism. Thatcherism's implications were wholly at odds with the organicist emphasis on social association that had previously been such a marked feature of Conservative thought. As the Conservative century came to an end, it seemed that even if the Conservative Party had survived, Conservatism had not.Less
The chapters in this book identify leitmotifs in Conservative thought which enable one to answer the question ‘What is Conservatism?’ This answer confirms and builds upon arguments developed by Anthony Quinton and Michael Oakeshott, particularly the former's ideas of intellectual imperfection, political scepticism, traditionalism, and organicism. At all levels of political debate and action throughout the 20th century, Conservatives articulated a range of positions, norms, and beliefs that were designed to identify the nature and meaning of Conservatism, and which fitted the patterns discerned by Quinton and Oakeshott, with the exception of Thatcherism. Thatcherism's implications were wholly at odds with the organicist emphasis on social association that had previously been such a marked feature of Conservative thought. As the Conservative century came to an end, it seemed that even if the Conservative Party had survived, Conservatism had not.
David Bebbington
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199267651
- eISBN:
- 9780191708220
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199267651.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History
Gladstone’s ideas are far more accessible for analysis now that, following the publication of his diaries, a record of his reading is available. This book traces the evolution of what the diaries ...
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Gladstone’s ideas are far more accessible for analysis now that, following the publication of his diaries, a record of his reading is available. This book traces the evolution of what the diaries reveal as the statesman’s central intellectual preoccupations, theology and classical scholarship, as well as the groundwork of his early Conservatism and his mature Liberalism. In particular, it examines the ideological sources of Gladstone’s youthful opposition to reform before scrutinising his convictions in theology as they developed from Evangelicalism through Orthodox High Churchmanship and Tractarianism to a liberal Catholicism. His classical studies, focused primarily on Homer, also changed over time, from a version designed to defend a traditional worldview to an approach that celebrated human endeavour. An enduring principle of his thought was the importance of community, but a fresh axiom that arose from the modifications of his views was the centrality of all things human. The twin values of community and humanity were the foundations of Gladstone’s rhetoric as Liberal leader, so making him, in terms of recent political thought, a communitarian rather than a liberal, but one with a distinctive humanitarian message. As a result of a thorough scrutiny of Gladstone’s private papers, the Victorian statesman is shown to have derived his standpoint from the Christian and classical sources of his thinking and so to have left an enduring intellectual legacy.Less
Gladstone’s ideas are far more accessible for analysis now that, following the publication of his diaries, a record of his reading is available. This book traces the evolution of what the diaries reveal as the statesman’s central intellectual preoccupations, theology and classical scholarship, as well as the groundwork of his early Conservatism and his mature Liberalism. In particular, it examines the ideological sources of Gladstone’s youthful opposition to reform before scrutinising his convictions in theology as they developed from Evangelicalism through Orthodox High Churchmanship and Tractarianism to a liberal Catholicism. His classical studies, focused primarily on Homer, also changed over time, from a version designed to defend a traditional worldview to an approach that celebrated human endeavour. An enduring principle of his thought was the importance of community, but a fresh axiom that arose from the modifications of his views was the centrality of all things human. The twin values of community and humanity were the foundations of Gladstone’s rhetoric as Liberal leader, so making him, in terms of recent political thought, a communitarian rather than a liberal, but one with a distinctive humanitarian message. As a result of a thorough scrutiny of Gladstone’s private papers, the Victorian statesman is shown to have derived his standpoint from the Christian and classical sources of his thinking and so to have left an enduring intellectual legacy.
MARC BRODIE
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199270552
- eISBN:
- 9780191710254
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199270552.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, Social History
This chapter focuses on explanations of the apparent Conservatism amongst the East End working class. In many ways, this has meant a simplified emphasis upon factors possibly acting to dilute the ...
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This chapter focuses on explanations of the apparent Conservatism amongst the East End working class. In many ways, this has meant a simplified emphasis upon factors possibly acting to dilute the expression of the ‘existing’ political tendencies of the working class. But clearly the evidence does show, on a number of occasions, that voting abstention seems to have distorted an underlying majority progressivism amongst the more prosperous working class in some areas. The smaller number of poorer working-class voters seems on occasion to have seized upon ‘scandal’ to randomly, but actively, reject middle-class candidates of whatever party, with political results that are difficult to measure.Less
This chapter focuses on explanations of the apparent Conservatism amongst the East End working class. In many ways, this has meant a simplified emphasis upon factors possibly acting to dilute the expression of the ‘existing’ political tendencies of the working class. But clearly the evidence does show, on a number of occasions, that voting abstention seems to have distorted an underlying majority progressivism amongst the more prosperous working class in some areas. The smaller number of poorer working-class voters seems on occasion to have seized upon ‘scandal’ to randomly, but actively, reject middle-class candidates of whatever party, with political results that are difficult to measure.
MARC BRODIE
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199270552
- eISBN:
- 9780191710254
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199270552.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, Social History
This chapter examines some further influential, historical ‘models’ of politics in the East End. It shows the importance of the exact ‘mix’ of beliefs and local community dynamics in creating the ...
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This chapter examines some further influential, historical ‘models’ of politics in the East End. It shows the importance of the exact ‘mix’ of beliefs and local community dynamics in creating the varying responses across groups and areas in the — certainly less than uniform — politics of East London. The chapter considers the accepted ‘model’ of costermonger Conservatism, the existence of the Jewish ‘block’ vote, and Irish voters.Less
This chapter examines some further influential, historical ‘models’ of politics in the East End. It shows the importance of the exact ‘mix’ of beliefs and local community dynamics in creating the varying responses across groups and areas in the — certainly less than uniform — politics of East London. The chapter considers the accepted ‘model’ of costermonger Conservatism, the existence of the Jewish ‘block’ vote, and Irish voters.
MARC BRODIE
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199270552
- eISBN:
- 9780191710254
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199270552.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, Social History
This chapter presents some concluding thoughts from the author. It argues that the image of a populist Conservatism and a political apathy growing in the late Victorian and Edwardian period out of an ...
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This chapter presents some concluding thoughts from the author. It argues that the image of a populist Conservatism and a political apathy growing in the late Victorian and Edwardian period out of an abjectly poor East End is wrong. The examination of ‘models’ put forward by historians to support this idea has suggested that few were built upon a solid base of evidence, and that they often relied heavily upon superficial and unjustified assumptions regarding poverty, race, and religion. The politics of the East End working class were far more complex than these models allow.Less
This chapter presents some concluding thoughts from the author. It argues that the image of a populist Conservatism and a political apathy growing in the late Victorian and Edwardian period out of an abjectly poor East End is wrong. The examination of ‘models’ put forward by historians to support this idea has suggested that few were built upon a solid base of evidence, and that they often relied heavily upon superficial and unjustified assumptions regarding poverty, race, and religion. The politics of the East End working class were far more complex than these models allow.
Mugambi Jouet
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780520293298
- eISBN:
- 9780520966468
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520293298.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
Americans are far more divided than other Westerners over basic issues, including wealth inequality, health care, climate change, evolution, the literal truth of the Bible, apocalyptical prophecies, ...
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Americans are far more divided than other Westerners over basic issues, including wealth inequality, health care, climate change, evolution, the literal truth of the Bible, apocalyptical prophecies, gender roles, abortion, gay rights, sexual education, gun control, mass incarceration, the death penalty, torture, human rights, and war. The intense polarization of U.S. conservatives and liberals has become a key dimension of American exceptionalism—an idea widely misunderstood as American superiority. It is rather what makes America an exception, for better or worse. While exceptionalism once was largely a source of strength, it may now spell decline, as unique features of U.S. history, politics, law, culture, religion, and race relations foster grave conflicts and injustices. They also shed light on the peculiar ideological evolution of American conservatism, which long predated Trumpism. Anti-intellectualism, conspiracy-mongering, radical anti-governmentalism, and Christian fundamentalism are far more common in America than Europe, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Drawing inspiration from Alexis de Tocqueville, Mugambi Jouet explores American exceptionalism’s intriguing roots as a multicultural outsider-insider. Raised in Paris by a French mother and Kenyan father, he then lived throughout America, from the Bible Belt to New York, California, and beyond. His articles have notably been featured in The New Republic, Slate, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Huffington Post, and Le Monde. He teaches at Stanford Law School.Less
Americans are far more divided than other Westerners over basic issues, including wealth inequality, health care, climate change, evolution, the literal truth of the Bible, apocalyptical prophecies, gender roles, abortion, gay rights, sexual education, gun control, mass incarceration, the death penalty, torture, human rights, and war. The intense polarization of U.S. conservatives and liberals has become a key dimension of American exceptionalism—an idea widely misunderstood as American superiority. It is rather what makes America an exception, for better or worse. While exceptionalism once was largely a source of strength, it may now spell decline, as unique features of U.S. history, politics, law, culture, religion, and race relations foster grave conflicts and injustices. They also shed light on the peculiar ideological evolution of American conservatism, which long predated Trumpism. Anti-intellectualism, conspiracy-mongering, radical anti-governmentalism, and Christian fundamentalism are far more common in America than Europe, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Drawing inspiration from Alexis de Tocqueville, Mugambi Jouet explores American exceptionalism’s intriguing roots as a multicultural outsider-insider. Raised in Paris by a French mother and Kenyan father, he then lived throughout America, from the Bible Belt to New York, California, and beyond. His articles have notably been featured in The New Republic, Slate, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Huffington Post, and Le Monde. He teaches at Stanford Law School.
David Bebbington
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199267651
- eISBN:
- 9780191708220
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199267651.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History
In 1831 Gladstone denounced parliamentary reform at the Oxford Union. He rejected equality and liberty as ideals and dismissed contractarianism as the basis of political obligation, favouring instead ...
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In 1831 Gladstone denounced parliamentary reform at the Oxford Union. He rejected equality and liberty as ideals and dismissed contractarianism as the basis of political obligation, favouring instead a patriarchal version of monarchism. The major sources for this standpoint were Burke, the Bible, and Aristotle. In his exploration of political theory in the 1830s, Gladstone was bitterly opposed to utilitarianism, seeing it as a solvent of the bonds of society, but he incorporated in his thinking the desirability of making concessions to public opinion. Although his version of Conservatism was close to what has been called orthodox Anglican political theology, it already contained a liberal dimension.Less
In 1831 Gladstone denounced parliamentary reform at the Oxford Union. He rejected equality and liberty as ideals and dismissed contractarianism as the basis of political obligation, favouring instead a patriarchal version of monarchism. The major sources for this standpoint were Burke, the Bible, and Aristotle. In his exploration of political theory in the 1830s, Gladstone was bitterly opposed to utilitarianism, seeing it as a solvent of the bonds of society, but he incorporated in his thinking the desirability of making concessions to public opinion. Although his version of Conservatism was close to what has been called orthodox Anglican political theology, it already contained a liberal dimension.
David Bebbington
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199267651
- eISBN:
- 9780191708220
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199267651.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History
Gladstone published five books and many articles on Homer, showing an eclectic antiquarian fascination with the ancient Greek poet. Initially he wished to demonstrate, against the case of the ...
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Gladstone published five books and many articles on Homer, showing an eclectic antiquarian fascination with the ancient Greek poet. Initially he wished to demonstrate, against the case of the historian George Grote, that Homer provided authentic data about the earliest known phase of human history. He also wanted to show, again against Grote, that the poet depicted a period of limited monarchy and aristocratic responsibility, so vindicating Gladstone’s moderate Conservatism. There was an apologetic explanation for the politician’s attention to Homer, for he wanted to show that there were traces in the poet’s pages of a divine revelation made to humanity in its earliest days. The aim was to show, against the rising interpretation of Greek mythology as derived from nature worship, that there was a supernatural element in the myths of Olympus.Less
Gladstone published five books and many articles on Homer, showing an eclectic antiquarian fascination with the ancient Greek poet. Initially he wished to demonstrate, against the case of the historian George Grote, that Homer provided authentic data about the earliest known phase of human history. He also wanted to show, again against Grote, that the poet depicted a period of limited monarchy and aristocratic responsibility, so vindicating Gladstone’s moderate Conservatism. There was an apologetic explanation for the politician’s attention to Homer, for he wanted to show that there were traces in the poet’s pages of a divine revelation made to humanity in its earliest days. The aim was to show, against the rising interpretation of Greek mythology as derived from nature worship, that there was a supernatural element in the myths of Olympus.
David Bebbington
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199267651
- eISBN:
- 9780191708220
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199267651.003.0010
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History
Gladstone was moulded by the twin legacies of theological discussion and the classical world. His religious opinions developed from an early Evangelicalism through a series of phases until his ...
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Gladstone was moulded by the twin legacies of theological discussion and the classical world. His religious opinions developed from an early Evangelicalism through a series of phases until his resting place in liberal Catholicism. His classical studies also evolved from a deployment of Homer in defence of traditional political institutions and religious beliefs to an exaltation of the value of humanity through examination of the same poet. Both changes were intertwined with Gladstone’s movement from Conservatism to Liberalism. He was consistent in elaborating a communitarian theory of public life, but the central place of the incarnation in his scheme propelled the category of humanity into prominence alongside it. He swayed others to approach political issues from a similar perspective long into the 20th century.Less
Gladstone was moulded by the twin legacies of theological discussion and the classical world. His religious opinions developed from an early Evangelicalism through a series of phases until his resting place in liberal Catholicism. His classical studies also evolved from a deployment of Homer in defence of traditional political institutions and religious beliefs to an exaltation of the value of humanity through examination of the same poet. Both changes were intertwined with Gladstone’s movement from Conservatism to Liberalism. He was consistent in elaborating a communitarian theory of public life, but the central place of the incarnation in his scheme propelled the category of humanity into prominence alongside it. He swayed others to approach political issues from a similar perspective long into the 20th century.
Christopher Hilliard
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199695171
- eISBN:
- 9780199949946
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199695171.003.0010
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory, 20th-century Literature and Modernism
The Scrutiny movement's history divides into three periods: roughly, 1930–40, 1940–65, and 1965 onwards. The movement was at its fullest extent in the middle period, and benefited from the ...
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The Scrutiny movement's history divides into three periods: roughly, 1930–40, 1940–65, and 1965 onwards. The movement was at its fullest extent in the middle period, and benefited from the distinctive conjuncture of the post-war period, a moment of cultural democratization and the persistence of older hierarchies and standards. As this double helix of democratization and deference unwound, the Scrutiny principle of ‘discrimination’ lost its external sanction. The decline of the movement after the early 1960s is also attributable to the way its cultural critique had been pushed more or less to exhaustion by the time the Birmingham Centre was founded. The conclusion takes stock of the divergent political positions informed by the Scrutiny tradition, and suggests that the movement matters for that diversity as well as for its impact on education and its role in bringing popular culture within the purview of the humanities in Britain.Less
The Scrutiny movement's history divides into three periods: roughly, 1930–40, 1940–65, and 1965 onwards. The movement was at its fullest extent in the middle period, and benefited from the distinctive conjuncture of the post-war period, a moment of cultural democratization and the persistence of older hierarchies and standards. As this double helix of democratization and deference unwound, the Scrutiny principle of ‘discrimination’ lost its external sanction. The decline of the movement after the early 1960s is also attributable to the way its cultural critique had been pushed more or less to exhaustion by the time the Birmingham Centre was founded. The conclusion takes stock of the divergent political positions informed by the Scrutiny tradition, and suggests that the movement matters for that diversity as well as for its impact on education and its role in bringing popular culture within the purview of the humanities in Britain.
Reba Soffer
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199208111
- eISBN:
- 9780191709210
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199208111.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, History of Ideas
This book provides a compelling explanation of the contents and substance of conservative ideas, their intentions and consequences, and the historical contexts that contributed to their formulation ...
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This book provides a compelling explanation of the contents and substance of conservative ideas, their intentions and consequences, and the historical contexts that contributed to their formulation and dissemination among a variety of audiences. The book adds a novel, comparative dimension to the study of those ideas that informed conservatism by examining the subjects, motives, and personal and intellectual origins of historians who were also successful, polemical public intellectuals. Until at least the 1960s, in their search for a persuasive and wide appeal, conservatives depended upon history and historians to provide conservative concepts with authority and authenticity. Beginning in 1913 in Britain and 1940 in America, conservative historians participated actively and influentially in debates about the heart, soul, and, especially, the mind of conservatism. Four historians in Britain, F. J. C. Hearnshaw, Keith Feiling, Arthur Bryant, and Herbert Butterfield, and three in America, Daniel Boorstin, Peter Viereck, and Russell Kirk, developed conservative responses to unprecedented and threatening events domestically and internationally. They shared basic assumptions about human nature and society, but their subjects, interpretations, conclusions, and prescriptions were independent and idiosyncratic. Uniquely close to powerful political figures, each historian also spoke directly to a large public, who bought their books, read their contributions to newspapers and journals, listened to them on the radio, and watched them on television. Additionally, the book addresses the dominance of both conservatism and Conservatism in 20th‐century Britain and the delayed development in America, until the Reagan ascendancy, of both a Conservative party and popular conservatism.Less
This book provides a compelling explanation of the contents and substance of conservative ideas, their intentions and consequences, and the historical contexts that contributed to their formulation and dissemination among a variety of audiences. The book adds a novel, comparative dimension to the study of those ideas that informed conservatism by examining the subjects, motives, and personal and intellectual origins of historians who were also successful, polemical public intellectuals. Until at least the 1960s, in their search for a persuasive and wide appeal, conservatives depended upon history and historians to provide conservative concepts with authority and authenticity. Beginning in 1913 in Britain and 1940 in America, conservative historians participated actively and influentially in debates about the heart, soul, and, especially, the mind of conservatism. Four historians in Britain, F. J. C. Hearnshaw, Keith Feiling, Arthur Bryant, and Herbert Butterfield, and three in America, Daniel Boorstin, Peter Viereck, and Russell Kirk, developed conservative responses to unprecedented and threatening events domestically and internationally. They shared basic assumptions about human nature and society, but their subjects, interpretations, conclusions, and prescriptions were independent and idiosyncratic. Uniquely close to powerful political figures, each historian also spoke directly to a large public, who bought their books, read their contributions to newspapers and journals, listened to them on the radio, and watched them on television. Additionally, the book addresses the dominance of both conservatism and Conservatism in 20th‐century Britain and the delayed development in America, until the Reagan ascendancy, of both a Conservative party and popular conservatism.
Gillian Peele and John Francis (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9781784991531
- eISBN:
- 9781526120946
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9781784991531.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, UK Politics
The book explores the process of rebuilding the Conservative Party under David Cameron’s leadership since 2005. It argues that Cameron’s strategy was wide-ranging and multi-faceted and that it ...
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The book explores the process of rebuilding the Conservative Party under David Cameron’s leadership since 2005. It argues that Cameron’s strategy was wide-ranging and multi-faceted and that it evolved through several stages from a coherent programme of explicit modernisation into a more diffuse set of reforms. This development was partly a result of changed thinking within the Party and partly because of the pressure of external events, especially the 2008 global financial crisis and the demands of coalition government between 2010 and 2015. It traces the different elements of the renewal strategy – leadership initiatives, ideological reconstruction, policy reappraisal and enhanced electoral appeal – and it identifies the constraints on implementing Party renewal that occurred as a result of opposition from within the Party, including the parliamentary Party and the grass roots membership. It also explores the extent to which long-standing intra-party fissures, especially over Europe, exacerbated difficulties for the leadership. The book shows that the process of renewal has been through a number of stages and that its progress has been indirect rather than linear. It suggests that, although the renewal project has been relatively successful in some respects including the return of the Conservatives to government, the extent to which it has created a new Conservative Party remains contested and the Party continues to display a dangerous disunity.Less
The book explores the process of rebuilding the Conservative Party under David Cameron’s leadership since 2005. It argues that Cameron’s strategy was wide-ranging and multi-faceted and that it evolved through several stages from a coherent programme of explicit modernisation into a more diffuse set of reforms. This development was partly a result of changed thinking within the Party and partly because of the pressure of external events, especially the 2008 global financial crisis and the demands of coalition government between 2010 and 2015. It traces the different elements of the renewal strategy – leadership initiatives, ideological reconstruction, policy reappraisal and enhanced electoral appeal – and it identifies the constraints on implementing Party renewal that occurred as a result of opposition from within the Party, including the parliamentary Party and the grass roots membership. It also explores the extent to which long-standing intra-party fissures, especially over Europe, exacerbated difficulties for the leadership. The book shows that the process of renewal has been through a number of stages and that its progress has been indirect rather than linear. It suggests that, although the renewal project has been relatively successful in some respects including the return of the Conservatives to government, the extent to which it has created a new Conservative Party remains contested and the Party continues to display a dangerous disunity.
Bradley J. Birzer
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780813166186
- eISBN:
- 9780813166643
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Kentucky
- DOI:
- 10.5810/kentucky/9780813166186.003.0003
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
Chapter 3 explores Kirk’s life from the end of his conscription in 1946 to the publication of his dissertation in 1953. It examines Kirk’s time in Scotland as well as the development of his ideas on ...
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Chapter 3 explores Kirk’s life from the end of his conscription in 1946 to the publication of his dissertation in 1953. It examines Kirk’s time in Scotland as well as the development of his ideas on conservatism as rooted in the thought of the Anglo-Irish statesman Edmund Burke. Finally, it retells the story of Kirk’s (in)famous resignation from Michigan State in the fall of 1953 and his determination to make his life as a private “man of letters.”Less
Chapter 3 explores Kirk’s life from the end of his conscription in 1946 to the publication of his dissertation in 1953. It examines Kirk’s time in Scotland as well as the development of his ideas on conservatism as rooted in the thought of the Anglo-Irish statesman Edmund Burke. Finally, it retells the story of Kirk’s (in)famous resignation from Michigan State in the fall of 1953 and his determination to make his life as a private “man of letters.”
Clarisse Berthezène
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- January 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780719086496
- eISBN:
- 9781781708941
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719086496.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Conflict Politics and Policy
This book examines attempts by the British Conservative party in the interwar years to capture and train the minds of the new electorate and create a counter-culture to what they saw as the ...
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This book examines attempts by the British Conservative party in the interwar years to capture and train the minds of the new electorate and create a counter-culture to what they saw as the intellectual hegemony of the Left. It is an important contribution to the political culture of Conservatism from the late 1920s to the early 1950s with a particular emphasis on the social and intellectual history of the Conservative milieu. This volume tells the fascinating story of the Bonar Law Memorial College, Ashridge, founded in 1929 as a ‘College of citizenship’ to provide political education through both teaching and publications. The College aimed at creating ‘Conservative Fabians’ who were to publish and disseminate Conservative literature, which meant not only explicitly political works but literary, historical and cultural work that carried implicit Conservative messages. After 1945, as the Conservative party sought to jettison its Baldwinian Past, Ashridge lost its political anchor, and moved, through complex stages, to being refounded as a management training college in 1954. This book modifies our understanding of the history of intellectual debate in Britain and it sheds new light on the history of the ‘middlebrow’ and how that category became a weapon for the Conservatives. It will become necessary reading both for scholars and students of modern British history and politics and more generally for those interested in the history of Conservatism.Less
This book examines attempts by the British Conservative party in the interwar years to capture and train the minds of the new electorate and create a counter-culture to what they saw as the intellectual hegemony of the Left. It is an important contribution to the political culture of Conservatism from the late 1920s to the early 1950s with a particular emphasis on the social and intellectual history of the Conservative milieu. This volume tells the fascinating story of the Bonar Law Memorial College, Ashridge, founded in 1929 as a ‘College of citizenship’ to provide political education through both teaching and publications. The College aimed at creating ‘Conservative Fabians’ who were to publish and disseminate Conservative literature, which meant not only explicitly political works but literary, historical and cultural work that carried implicit Conservative messages. After 1945, as the Conservative party sought to jettison its Baldwinian Past, Ashridge lost its political anchor, and moved, through complex stages, to being refounded as a management training college in 1954. This book modifies our understanding of the history of intellectual debate in Britain and it sheds new light on the history of the ‘middlebrow’ and how that category became a weapon for the Conservatives. It will become necessary reading both for scholars and students of modern British history and politics and more generally for those interested in the history of Conservatism.
Richard Hayton
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780719083167
- eISBN:
- 9781781706107
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719083167.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, UK Politics
Why did it take the Conservative Party so long to recover power? After a landslide defeat in 1997, why was it so slow to adapt, reposition itself and rebuild its support? How did the party leadership ...
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Why did it take the Conservative Party so long to recover power? After a landslide defeat in 1997, why was it so slow to adapt, reposition itself and rebuild its support? How did the party leadership seek to reconstruct conservatism and modernise its electoral appeal? This highly readable book addresses these questions through a contextualised assessment of Conservative Party politics between 1997 and 2010. By tracing the debates over strategy amongst the party elite, and scrutinising the actions of the leadership, it situates David Cameron and his ‘modernising’ approach in relation to that of his three immediate predecessors: Michael Howard, Iain Duncan Smith and William Hague. This holistic view, encompassing this period of opposition in its entirety, aids the identification of strategic trends and conflicts and a comprehension of the evolving Conservative response to New Labour's statecraft. Secondly, the book considers in depth four particular dilemmas for contemporary Conservatism: European integration; national identity and the ‘English Question’; social liberalism versus social authoritarianism; and the problems posed by a neo-liberal political economy. The book argues that the ideological legacy of Thatcherism played a central role in framing and shaping these intraparty debates, and that an appreciation of this is vital for explaining the nature and limits of the Conservatives’ renewal under Cameron. Students of British politics, party politics and ideologies will find this volume essential reading, and it will also be of great interest to anyone concerned with furthering their understanding of contemporary British political history.Less
Why did it take the Conservative Party so long to recover power? After a landslide defeat in 1997, why was it so slow to adapt, reposition itself and rebuild its support? How did the party leadership seek to reconstruct conservatism and modernise its electoral appeal? This highly readable book addresses these questions through a contextualised assessment of Conservative Party politics between 1997 and 2010. By tracing the debates over strategy amongst the party elite, and scrutinising the actions of the leadership, it situates David Cameron and his ‘modernising’ approach in relation to that of his three immediate predecessors: Michael Howard, Iain Duncan Smith and William Hague. This holistic view, encompassing this period of opposition in its entirety, aids the identification of strategic trends and conflicts and a comprehension of the evolving Conservative response to New Labour's statecraft. Secondly, the book considers in depth four particular dilemmas for contemporary Conservatism: European integration; national identity and the ‘English Question’; social liberalism versus social authoritarianism; and the problems posed by a neo-liberal political economy. The book argues that the ideological legacy of Thatcherism played a central role in framing and shaping these intraparty debates, and that an appreciation of this is vital for explaining the nature and limits of the Conservatives’ renewal under Cameron. Students of British politics, party politics and ideologies will find this volume essential reading, and it will also be of great interest to anyone concerned with furthering their understanding of contemporary British political history.
Edward Ashbee
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- January 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780719090820
- eISBN:
- 9781781708873
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719090820.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
The Right and the Recession considers the ways in which conservative activists, groupings, parties and interests in the US and Britain responded to the financial crisis and the “Great Recession” that ...
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The Right and the Recession considers the ways in which conservative activists, groupings, parties and interests in the US and Britain responded to the financial crisis and the “Great Recession” that followed in its wake. The book looks at the tensions and stresses between different ideas, interests and institutions and the ways in which they shaped the character of political outcomes. In Britain, these processes opened the way for leading Conservatives to redefine their commitment to fiscal retrenchment and austerity. Whereas public expenditure reductions had been portrayed as a necessary response to earlier “overspending” they were increasingly represented as a way of securing a permanently “leaner” state. The book assesses the character of this shift in thinking as well as the viability of these efforts to shrink the state and the parallel attempts in the US to cut federal government spending through mechanisms such as the budget sequester.Less
The Right and the Recession considers the ways in which conservative activists, groupings, parties and interests in the US and Britain responded to the financial crisis and the “Great Recession” that followed in its wake. The book looks at the tensions and stresses between different ideas, interests and institutions and the ways in which they shaped the character of political outcomes. In Britain, these processes opened the way for leading Conservatives to redefine their commitment to fiscal retrenchment and austerity. Whereas public expenditure reductions had been portrayed as a necessary response to earlier “overspending” they were increasingly represented as a way of securing a permanently “leaner” state. The book assesses the character of this shift in thinking as well as the viability of these efforts to shrink the state and the parallel attempts in the US to cut federal government spending through mechanisms such as the budget sequester.
Sarah Ruth Hammond
Darren Dochuk (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780226509778
- eISBN:
- 9780226509808
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226509808.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, History of Religion
God’s Businessmen: Entrepreneurial Evangelicals in Depression and War chronicles the lives, businesses, and ministries of several Christian corporate leaders, whose religious and political activism ...
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God’s Businessmen: Entrepreneurial Evangelicals in Depression and War chronicles the lives, businesses, and ministries of several Christian corporate leaders, whose religious and political activism between the 1920s and 1940s laid the foundations of the modern religious right. Challenging prevailing scholarly opinion that evangelicals—“fundamentalists,” as they were known then—remained apolitical and otherworldly in the Interwar period, this book carefully outlines how Christian businessmen such as R.G. LeTourneau and Herbert J. Taylor, leading figures in this account, grappled with the expanding federal state under the New Deal and during World War II. While on their factory floors and in their boardrooms they folded evangelical principles into manufacturing and managerial strategies, in their church spheres they financed evangelical causes and pushed clergy to tap laymen’s proselytizing energy. At the same time, they brought their conservative theology to bear on critical political issues such as taxation, government regulation, labor unions and workers rights, and the challenge, as they saw it, to uphold private enterprise against “big government” and the spread of socialist and communist subversion. The ideas and institutions they advanced in this political moment served as a base from which post-World War II religious and political conservatives would spread their gospel.Less
God’s Businessmen: Entrepreneurial Evangelicals in Depression and War chronicles the lives, businesses, and ministries of several Christian corporate leaders, whose religious and political activism between the 1920s and 1940s laid the foundations of the modern religious right. Challenging prevailing scholarly opinion that evangelicals—“fundamentalists,” as they were known then—remained apolitical and otherworldly in the Interwar period, this book carefully outlines how Christian businessmen such as R.G. LeTourneau and Herbert J. Taylor, leading figures in this account, grappled with the expanding federal state under the New Deal and during World War II. While on their factory floors and in their boardrooms they folded evangelical principles into manufacturing and managerial strategies, in their church spheres they financed evangelical causes and pushed clergy to tap laymen’s proselytizing energy. At the same time, they brought their conservative theology to bear on critical political issues such as taxation, government regulation, labor unions and workers rights, and the challenge, as they saw it, to uphold private enterprise against “big government” and the spread of socialist and communist subversion. The ideas and institutions they advanced in this political moment served as a base from which post-World War II religious and political conservatives would spread their gospel.
Benjamin A. Cowan
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781469627502
- eISBN:
- 9781469627526
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469627502.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Latin American History
This book argues that Cold War struggles against “subversion” must be understood in cultural terms, as a reaction to the consequences—both real and perceived—of modernization. Inscribing Brazil’s ...
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This book argues that Cold War struggles against “subversion” must be understood in cultural terms, as a reaction to the consequences—both real and perceived—of modernization. Inscribing Brazil’s Cold War military rulers and their supporters into a decades-long trajectory of right-wing activism and ideology, and locating them in a transnational network of right-wing cultural warriors, the book demonstrates that anti-modern moral panic animated powerful, hard-line elements of Brazil’s countersubversive dictatorship (1964-1985). This moral panic conflated communist subversion with the accoutrement of modernity, and coalesced around the crucial nodes of gender and sexuality, particularly in relation to “modern” youth, women, and mass media. Transformations in these realms were anathema to the Right, who echoed the anxieties of generations past, pathologizing and sexualizing these phenomena, and identifying in them a “crisis of modernity” and of communist subversion. Hence the Cold War became more than a military struggle against rural guerrillas and urban terrorists; from the perspective of key activists and technocrats, the battle must be waged across sexual and bodily practice, clothing, music, art, mass media, and gender. Addressing historiographical neglect of the Right in Brazil and beyond, the book culturally historicizes the Western Cold War in a transnational sense by uncovering Atlantic networks of right-wing activism that validated anti-modern and anticommunist anxieties. These networks included Brazilian, European, and North Atlantic anticommunists, from the famous to those whose stars waned after the Cold War.Less
This book argues that Cold War struggles against “subversion” must be understood in cultural terms, as a reaction to the consequences—both real and perceived—of modernization. Inscribing Brazil’s Cold War military rulers and their supporters into a decades-long trajectory of right-wing activism and ideology, and locating them in a transnational network of right-wing cultural warriors, the book demonstrates that anti-modern moral panic animated powerful, hard-line elements of Brazil’s countersubversive dictatorship (1964-1985). This moral panic conflated communist subversion with the accoutrement of modernity, and coalesced around the crucial nodes of gender and sexuality, particularly in relation to “modern” youth, women, and mass media. Transformations in these realms were anathema to the Right, who echoed the anxieties of generations past, pathologizing and sexualizing these phenomena, and identifying in them a “crisis of modernity” and of communist subversion. Hence the Cold War became more than a military struggle against rural guerrillas and urban terrorists; from the perspective of key activists and technocrats, the battle must be waged across sexual and bodily practice, clothing, music, art, mass media, and gender. Addressing historiographical neglect of the Right in Brazil and beyond, the book culturally historicizes the Western Cold War in a transnational sense by uncovering Atlantic networks of right-wing activism that validated anti-modern and anticommunist anxieties. These networks included Brazilian, European, and North Atlantic anticommunists, from the famous to those whose stars waned after the Cold War.
