British Politics

, Volume 7, Issue 1, pp 55–68 | Cite as

Britain in the world: Implications for the study of British Politics

  • James E Cronin
Original Article
First Online:
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Abstract

Political scientists in Britain have traditionally been more comfortable with, and open to, historical work than their American counterparts. There is nevertheless surprisingly little interaction between history and politics in the United Kingdom and little indication that political scientists make much use of even the best historical work on politics or international relations (IR). This essay reviews five more or less recent histories that focus on the British Empire and, more broadly, on Britain's place in the world, suggests why they might be of interest to students of contemporary politics and sketches a framework that might serve to connect them with more recent phenomena in Britain's IR.

Keywords

British empire Second World War gentlemanly capitalism national strategy Europe 
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Copyright information

© Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2012

Authors and Affiliations

  • James E Cronin
    • 1
  1. 1.Department of HistoryBoston CollegeChestnut HillUSA

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