Politics

Human society is always surrounded by politics of some sort. Whether it is the basic negotiation of leadership and obedience of rules for clans or soldiers or, the more sophisticated set up of the modern world the relationship of control and decision making is always around. Grouped together in this strand are articles and podcasts covering the systems of the ancient world in Greece and Rome, alongside the stories of revolution in Europe, the creation of treaties and alliances and the arguments amongst political parties today.

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  • Magna Carta: The Clauses

    Podcast

    In this set of podcasts Professor Louise Wilkinson of Canterbury Christ Church University looks at the key clauses in Magna Carta.

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  • Margaret Thatcher and her Legacy

    Podcast

    In this podcast Professor Eric Evans looks at the rise, fall and legacy of Margaret Thatcher's premiership.

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  • Nineteenth Century Social Reform

    Podcast

    In this series of videos, produced by Royal Holloway, University of London, staff and students explore nineteenth century social reform and its effect in changing, gradually, the role of the state. This includes videos looking at the New Poor Law, Factory and Education Acts and the campaign to repeal the...

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  • Nixon & Watergate

    Podcast

    In this podcast Professor Iwan Morgan of University College London looks at President Nixon's first term in office, the Watergate Scandal and the significance of the scandal on American politics.

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  • Origins of the Northern Irish Civil Rights Movement

    Podcast

    In this podcast Dr Stuart Aveyard of Queens University Belfast looks at the origins of the Northern Irish Civil rights movement that developed in the 60s and 70s and the impact of Bloody Sunday.

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  • Parliament & Constitutional Change 1660-1702

    Podcast

    In this podcast Professor Tony Claydon looks at Parliamentary and constitutional change between 1660-1702.

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  • Parliamentary Politics in the 18th Century

    Podcast

    In this podcast Dr Nigel Aston of the University of Leicester discusses the development of Parliament and Party politics in 18th century Britain.

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  • Peterloo

    Podcast

    In this series of videos, produced by Royal Holloway, University of London, staff and students explore the Peterloo Massacre, looking at its origins, outcome and longer term historical significance. The playlist also contains 18 dramatised primary sources drawn from The National Archives and the Parliamentary Archives. These are designed to...

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  • President Reagan

    Podcast

    In this podcast Professor Iwan Morgan of University College London examines the impact and significance of Ronald Reagan's presidency. Jimmy Carter came to the re-election bid with an America suffering from a serious bout of low morale. Inflation was 13% a year and unemployment was at 7%, Afghanistan was under...

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  • Radical Protest in the Nineteenth Century

    Podcast

    In this series of videos, produced by Royal Holloway, University of London, staff and students explore the history of radicalism in the nineteenth century, including the Spa Fields Riots, the Pentrich Uprising, Luddism, the Swing Riots and the March of the Blanketeers. The playlist also provides an overview of key...

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  • Re-imagining Democracy

    Podcast

    The following set of podcasts feature Professor Mark Philp of the University of Warwick discussing how peoples perceptions of democracy changed between 1750 and 1850 and is based on the findings of the Re-imagining democracy project, begun in 2005 by Joanna Innes and Mark Philp.

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  • Recorded Webinar: Resisting Reagan

    Article

    The 1980s are often viewed as marking the repudiation of the political order marked by the New Deal and the 1960s, both periods of enormous social, political, and cultural change. Yet the decade symbolised by President Ronald Reagan, far from being a period of triumphant conservative counterrevolution, was a period...

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  • Recorded Webinar: Ukraine and the Soviet Politics of Empire

    Article

    Dr Zbigniew Wojnowski is a historian based at the University of Oxford. He specialises in the history of the Cold War and is particularly interested in the history of Soviet social, cultural, and political interactions with Eastern Europe after 1945. In 2017, he published a book entitled The Near Abroad:...

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  • Recorded Webinar: ‘Drawing the Line’: the 1947 Partition of India

    Article

    August 2022 marks 75 years since British India was divided at independence into two separate states: India and Pakistan (the latter including today’s Bangladesh). As with the 70th commemoration in 2017, this anniversary will trigger a great deal of collective remembering in Britain just as in South Asia itself. Freedom from...

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  • Recorded webinar series: Commemorating the 75th anniversary of the UN Convention on Genocide

    Multipage Article

    9 December 2023 was the 75th anniversary of the passing of the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (known as the UN Convention on Genocide). The convention was a clear statement by the international community that crimes of that nature should never happen...

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  • Recorded webinar: John F. Kennedy and the Vietnam War

    Article

    Would US President John F. Kennedy have avoided the catastrophe that became the Vietnam War if Lee Harvey Oswald had not assassinated him in Dallas on that fateful day of 22 November 1963? This question – or a version of it – has animated discussions of the Vietnam War for...

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  • Recorded webinar: Teaching the 'People's History' of the Munich Crisis

    Article

    Professor Julie Gottlieb has written extensively on inter-war British political and gender history, and her more recent work has provided alternative perspectives on seemingly settled debates in the historiography of British foreign policy and the history of appeasement. Through the lens of women/gender, social history, and now psychology/emotion, she argues for a...

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  • Recorded webinar: The Cult of the Duce: Mussolini and the Italians at the time of Fascism

    Article

    The Italian Fascist leader Benito Mussolini understood more than other leaders of his generation the power of images and used them to great effect in building his personality cult which was central to Italian Fascism. In this illustrated webinar, Professor Giuliana Pieri will explore the evolution of the iconography of...

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  • Reforming Parliament

    Podcast

    In this series of videos, produced by Royal Holloway, University of London, staff and students examine the campaign and steps taken in the nineteenth century to reform Parliament. This playlist starts by asking what was wrong with Parliament before the Great Reform Act, before going on to look at the...

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  • Richard II and the Peasants' Revolt

    Podcast

    In this podcast Dr James Davis of Queens University Belfast discusses the reign of Richard II and the origins and significance of the Peasants' Revolt.

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