'High politics' and the 'new political history'

Historical Journal

Volumn 53, Issue 2, 2010, Pages 453-475

  Craig, David M ^a  

^a DURHAM UNIVERSITY   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ELITE POLITICS; POLITICAL HISTORY; POLITICAL IDEOLOGY; TWENTIETH CENTURY;

EID: 77953670001     PISSN: 0018246X     EISSN: 14695103     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0018246X10000129     Document Type: Review

References (193)

1. S. Pedersen, 'What is political history now? ', in D. Cannadine, ed., What is history now? (London, 2002), p. 42.
2. In this context the phrase 'new political history' was coined by J. Vernon, Politics and the people : a study in English political culture, c. 1815-1867 (Cambridge, 1993)
3. and D. Wahrman, 'The new political history: a review essay', Social History, 21 (1996), pp. 343-354
4. See also L. Black, 'Popular politics in modern British history', Journal of British Studies, 40 (2001), pp. 431-445
5. and S. Fielding, 'Looking for the "new political history" ', Journal of Contemporary History, 42 (2007), pp. 515-524
6. English Historical Review, 113 (1998), p. 1024.
7. Pedersen, 'What is political history now? ', pp. 42, 40.
8. M. Cowling, Mill and liberalism (2nd edn, Cambridge, 1990), p. xiv.
9. R. Brent, 'Butterfield's Tories: "High politics " and the writing of modern British history', Historical Journal, 30 (1987), pp. 947-948
10. See also R. Crowcroft, 'Maurice Cowling and the writing of British political history', Contemporary British History, 22, 2008, p. 279-286, which offers a supportive but sometimes misleading survey of Cowling's thinking.
11. A forthcoming definitive account is P. Williamson, 'Maurice Cowling and modern British political history', in R. Crowcroft, S. J. D. Green, and R. Whiting, eds., Philosophy, politics and religion in British democracy : Maurice Cowling and conservatism (London, 2010).
12. Cowling suggested that the phrase was first used by the historian, Joseph Lee, when a fellow of Peterhouse between 1968 to 1974: New York Review of Books, 10 Apr. 1986.
13. Times Literary Supplement, 25 July 1975, p. 839;
14. Spectator, 26 July 1975, p. 111 ;
15. Listener, 25 Sept. 1975, p. 407.
16. Economist, 2 Aug. 1975, p. 105.
17. Bulletin of the Society for the Study of Labour History, 15 (1967), p. 40;
18. Historical Journal, 11, 1968, 595.
19. Times, 26 Apr. 1971, p. 16;
20. Historical Journal, 17, 1971, p. 208.
21. Bulletin of the Society for the Study of Labour History, 24 (1972), p. 65.
22. Economist, 19 Aug. 1972, p. 54.
23. E.g. Times, 28 Feb. 1974, p. 15.
24. Historical Journal, 19 (1976), p. 306;
25. Spectator, 26 July 1975, p. 111.
26. D. Beales, ' Peel, Russell and reform', Historical Journal, 17 (1974), p. 874.
27. Economist, 22 July 1967, p. 329, 2 Mar. 1974, p. 110, 2 Aug. 1975, p. 105.
28. Observer, 27 July 1975, p. 23.
29. Times, 26 Apr. 1971, p. 16;
30. Bulletin of the Society for the Study of Labour History, 24 (1972), p. 65.
31. American Political Science Review, 68 (1974), p. 810;
32. American Historical Review, 77, 1972, 795.
33. English Historical Review, 91 (1976), p. 153;
34. Spectator, 26 July 1975, p. 111.
35. English Historical Review, 88 (1973), p. 145;
36. Historical Journal, 19 (1976), p. 307.
37. Beales, 'Peel', p. 875.
38. M. Cowling, The impact of Labour 1920-1924: the beginning of modern British politics (Cambridge, 1971), p. 3.
39. A. B. Cooke and J. Vincent, The governing passion : cabinet government and party politics in Britain, 1885-1886 (Brighton, 1974), p. 21.
40. M. Cowling, 1867 Disraeli, Gladstone and revolution : the passing of the Second Reform Bill (Cambridge, 1967), p. 340, also speaks of a 'closed' world.
41. For an account of the differences between the approach of Cowling and that of Cooke and Vincent, see M. Bentley, 'Party, doctrine and thought', in M. Bentley and J. Stevenson, eds., High and low politics in modern Britain : ten studies (Oxford, 1983), p. 130.
42. Cowling, Labour, p. 11.
43. Cooke and Vincent, Governing passion, p. 21.
44. Cowling, Labour, p. 4.
45. Cowling, 1867, pp. 288, 340.
46. Cowling, 1867, Ibid., p. 315.
47. Cooke and Vincent, Governing passion, pp. 5-6, 7-8, 20-1.
48. Cooke and Vincent, Governing passion , Ibid., p. 21.
49. Compare Vincent's endorsement of 1867 in Economic History Review, 20 (1967), p. 564.
50. Cowling, 1867, p. 3.
51. Ibid., pp. 4
52. Cowling, Labour, p. 4.
53. Cowling, Labour , Ibid., p. 11.
54. Cowling, 1867, pp. 61, 286.
55. Ibid., p. 60, my emphasis.
56. Cowling, Labour, p. 39.
57. Cowling, 1867, p. 316.
58. Cooke and Vincent, Governing passion, pp. xiii-xiv, 5, 119.
59. Cooke and Vincent, Governing passion , Ibid., p. 16.
60. Ibid., p. 5.
61. Cowling, Labour, p. 3.
62. The size could vary, even in the same work. The nature and limits of political science (Cambridge, 1963), speaks of forty to fifty men on p. 30 and seventy to eighty on p. 189.
63. Cowling, Labour, p. 4, my emphasis.
64. Cowling, 1867, p. 288.
65. Cowling, Labour, p. 12;
66. Cooke and Vincent, Governing passion, p. 20.
67. For Cowling's views of Namier, compare Nature and limits, p. 172, with Religion and public doctrine, III : Accommodations (Cambridge, 2001), pp. 620, 635-46.
68. Historical Journal, 19 (1976), p. 306;
69. Spectator, 26 July 1975, p. 111.
70. Cowling, 1867, pp. 10, 155;
71. Cooke and Vincent, Governing passion, p. 150.
72. Cowling, Labour, p. 28.
73. Cowling, Labour , Ibid., p. 30, my emphasis.
74. M. Cowling, The impact of Hitler : British politics and British policy, 1933-1940 (Cambridge, 1975), p. ix.
75. Compare 1867, p. 312, and Nature and limits, pp. 181-5.
76. Cooke and Vincent, Governing passion, p. 66.
77. Cowling, 1867, pp. 4, 5.
78. A. Jones, 'Where "governing is the use of words" ', Historical Journal, 19 (1976), p. 252;
79. Cowling, 1867, p. 33.
80. Cowling, 1867, pp. 311-12;
81. Cooke and Vincent, Governing passion, p. 66.
82. Cooke and Vincent, Governing passion, p. 61.
83. Cooke and Vincent, Governing passion , Ibid., pp. 52, 55.
84. Cowling, Hitler, p. 2.
85. This was reaffirmed in the 1990 edition of Mill and liberalism, p. xv.
86. Cowling, 1867, p. 7.
87. Ibid., pp. 209, 294.
88. Cowling, Labour, pp. 9, 418;
89. Cowling, Hitler, pp. 36-41.
90. Cowling, 1867, p. 54;
91. Cowling, Labour, p. 5.
92. Cowling, Labour, pp. 422-423
93. See also M. Cowling, 'The present position', in M. Cowling, ed., Conservative essays (London, 1978), p. 10.
94. Cowling, Hitler, p. 260.
95. See Nature and limits, pp. 185-186
96. and 'The present position', p. 9.
97. A. Jones, The politics of reform, 1884 (Cambridge, 1972), p. 11.
98. Cowling, 1867, pp. 317, 318.
99. Cowling, Labour, p. 39.
100. The same was true of official publications: Nature and limits, pp. 20-3;
101. Hitler, p. 2.
102. E.g. P. M. Gurowich, 'Party and independence in the early and mid-Victorian House of Commons' (Ph.D. thesis, Cambridge, 1986), pp. 8-9.
103. Cowling, 1867, pp. 325-331
104. Ibid., p. 331.
105. Ibid., p. 242.
106. This is a common misperception of critics, e.g. P. Clark, ' Political history in the 1980s', Journal of Interdisciplinary History, 12 (1981), p. 47.
107. Cooke and Vincent, Governing passion, p. 16.
108. Cowling, Labour, p. 109.
109. Cowling, Hitler, pp. 1, 5, my emphasis.
110. Cowling, 1867, p. 3.
111. E.g. C. Covell, The redefinition of conservatism : politics and doctrine (London, 1986), pp. 144-71;
112. I. Harris, 'Religion, authority and politics : the thought of Maurice Cowling', Political Science Reviewer, 26 (1997), pp. 434-481
113. P. Ghosh, 'Towards the verdict of history: Mr Cowling's doctrine', in M. Bentley, ed., Public and private doctrine : essays in British history presented to Maurice Cowling (Cambridge, 1992), pp. 306-308
114. P. Ghosh, 'Towards the verdict of history: Mr Cowling's doctrine',1992, Ibid., pp. 274-275
115. Cowling, 1867, p. 312.
116. See Michael Bentley, 'Interviews with historians: Maurice Cowling', Institute of Historical Research DVD, c. 1998.
117. M. Cowling, Religion and public doctrine in modern England (Cambridge, 1980), p. xxi.
118. H. Butterfield, Christianity and history (London, 1949), p. 37
119. and highlighted by Jones, 'Where "governing is the use of words" ', p. 253.
120. See also Cowling, Religion, pp. 237-238
121. Cowling, Religion, p. xx.
122. The best account of Cowling's early years is recalled to Bentley, 'Interviews with historians: Maurice Cowling'.
123. Cowling, Religion, p. 258.
124. Cowling, Religion , Ibid., p. xxiii.
125. Ibid., p. 160.
126. Although now a cliché, this phrase was used repeatedly in R. G. Collingwood, The idea of history (Oxford, 1946), pp. 115, 117, 215, 317
127. and endorsed in idem, An autobiography (Oxford, 1939), p. 110.
128. Collingwood, Idea of history, p. 213;
129. idem, Autobiography, p. 58.
130. Collingwood, Autobiography, p. 110.
131. Cowling, Religion, pp. 162, 94.
132. For the way these ideas were conveyed to Cowling by his tutor in 1943-4, see pp. 73-96.
133. Ibid., p. 188.
134. Collingwood, Autobiography, p. 66.
135. See also idem, An essay on metaphysics, ed. R. Martin (Oxford, 1998), pp. 70-74
136. Collingwood, Metaphysics, p. 60.
137. Cowling, Religion, p. 178.
138. See R. Martin, ' Editor's Introduction' to Collingwood, Metaphysics, pp. lxxxii-iii n. 4.
139. M. Cowling, 'Theory and politics ', transcript of radio broadcast, c. 1963, p. 11, in the possession of Philip Williamson.
140. Cowling, Religion, p. 188.
141. See Collingwood, Autobiography, pp. 29-43;
142. idem, Metaphysics, pp. 23-33.
143. See M. Cowling, 'Mr Woodruff 's Acton', Cambridge Journal, 6 (1952), p. 181;
144. Nature and limits, pp. 46-47
145. Cowling, Religion, p. 230.
146. Cowling, 'Introduction' to Mill and liberalism, p. xv.
147. He also objected to Skinner's liberalism and irreligion : Religion, III, pp. 619-621
148. Cowling, Religion, pp. 188-189
149. He later criticized Nature and limits for its statements about academic neutrality, arguing that all academics had doctrines to peddle: Religion, p. xxii ;
150. 'Introduction' to Mill and liberalism, p. xi.
151. Cowling, Religion, p. 272.
152. The quotation is from M. Oakeshott, 'Rationalism in politics ', in Rationalism in politics and other essays (Indianapolis, IN, 1991), p. 12.
153. The statement par excellence is ' Political education' in the same volume, pp. 43-69.
154. Cowling, Nature and limits, pp. 131, 208, 198, 206.
155. Cowling, Nature and limits , Ibid., pp. 135, 138.
156. Ibid., p. 212.
157. Oakeshott, ' Political education', p. 63.
158. Cowling, Nature and limits, p. 16.
159. Cowling, Mill and liberalism, pp. 118-131
160. P. Winch, The idea of a social science and its relation to philosophy (London, 1958), p. 15.
161. P. Winch, The idea of a social science and its relation to philosophy ,1958, Ibid., pp. 54-65.
162. Ibid., p. 133.
163. M. Bevir, The logic of the history of ideas (Cambridge, 1999), pp. 122-123
164. Ibid., p. 80.
165. N. Attallah, ed., Singular encounters (London, 1990), pp. 130-131, my emphasis.
166. Bevir, Logic, p. 46.
167. Bevir, Logic , Ibid., p. 199.
168. Ibid., p. 229.
169. M. Bentley, 'Prologue: the retiring Mr Cowling', in Public and private doctrine, p. 8;
170. Ghosh, 'Towards the verdict of history', passim.
171. Cowling, 1867, p. 312.
172. Cowling, Religion, p. xxiv.
173. Bentley, 'Prologue', p. 9.
174. Cowling, 'The present position', pp. 22-23
175. See J. Parry, Democracy and religion : Gladstone and the liberal party, 1867-1875 (Cambridge, 1986).
176. Bevir, Logic, p. 141.
177. Q. Skinner, 'The principles and practice of opposition: The case of Bolingbroke versus Walpole' in N. McKendrick, ed., Historical perspectives : studies in English thought and society in honour of J. H. Plumb (London, 1974), pp. 93-128.
178. Cowling, 'Theory and politics ', p. 10.
179. Bevir, Logic, pp. 269-270
180. Cowling, Nature and limits, pp. 18-19, 124.
181. Cowling, Mill and liberalism, p. 107.
182. Collingwood, Idea of history, p. 316.
183. Cowling also favoured the language of ' situation'. See Nature and limits, pp. 178-85 and 1867, pp. 312-15.
184. M. Bevir and R. Rhodes, Interpreting British governance (London, 2003), pp. 63, 41.
185. M. Bevir and R. Rhodes, Interpreting British governance (London, 2003), Ibid., p. 41.
186. M. Bevir and R. Rhodes, Interpreting British governance Ibid.
187. Cowling, Nature and limits, p. 174.
188. Cowling, Nature and limits, Ibid., pp. 178, 189.
189. M. Bentley and J. Stevenson, 'Introduction' in idem, High and low politics, p. 1 ;
190. P. Williamson, National crisis and national government : British politics, the economy and empire, 1926-1932 (Cambridge, 1992), p. 13.
191. L. Goldman, Science, reform, and politics in Victorian Britain : the Social Science Association 1857-1886 (Cambridge, 2002), pp. 7-11.
192. J. Lawrence, ' Political history', in S. Berger, H. Feldner, and K. Passmore, eds., Writing history : theory and practice (London, 2003), p. 194.
193. J. Parry, The politics of patriotism : English liberalism, national identity and Europe, 1830-1886 (Cambridge, 2006), p. 33.