HIS 3148 - The Making of British Democracy: Party and Politics, 1865-1951 (3)

When Offered: On Demand
This course will examine processes of political change in Britain between 1865 (the death of Lord Palmerston) and 1951 (the defeat at the polls of the first majority Labour government). The main focus will be on the nature and meaning of “democracy.” In the early nineteenth century the term was used pejoratively, to warn against mob rule and social upheaval. But by the mid-twentieth century, Britain’s system of government was generally assumed to be “democratic”: the term now referred to an ongoing and salutary extension of political rights and participation. How did this change come about? Why did the character of Britain’s democracy continue to be controversial? In order to address these problems, the course will investigate the role played by particular political leaders, parties, principles, and policies, and the changing relationship between political institutions and the people they were designed both to govern and to represent.