BiblioVault - Books about Great Britain. Parliament

Behemoth or The Long Parliament

Thomas Hobbes

University of Chicago Press, 1990

Behemoth, or The Long Parliament is essential to any reader interested in the historical context of the thought of Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679). In De Cive (1642) and Leviathan (1651), the great political philosopher had developed an analytical framework for discussing sedition, rebellion, and the breakdown of authority. Behemoth, completed around 1668 and not published until after Hobbe's death, represents the systematic application of this framework to the English Civil War.

In his insightful and substantial Introduction, Stephen Holmes examines the major themes and implications of Behemoth in Hobbes's system of thought. Holmes notes that a fresh consideration of Behemoth dispels persistent misreadings of Hobbes, including the idea that man is motivated solely by a desire for self-preservation. Behemoth, which is cast as a series of dialogues between a teacher and his pupil, locates the principal cause of the Civil War less in economic interests than in the stubborn irrationality of key actors. It also shows more vividly than any of Hobbe's other works the importance of religion in his theories of human nature and behavior.

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Commons and Lords

A Short Anthropology of Parliament

Emma Crewe

Haus Publishing, 2015

The British Parliament rewards close scrutiny not just for the sake of democracy, but also because the surprises it contains challenge our understanding of British politics. Commons and Lords pulls back the curtain on both the upper House of Lords and the lower House of Commons to examine their unexpected inner workings.

Based on fieldwork within both Houses, this volume in the Haus Curiosities series provides a surprising twist in how relationships in each play out. The high social status of peers in the House of Lords gives the impression of hierarchy and, more specifically, patriarchy. In contrast, the House of Commons conjures impressions of equality and fairness between members. But actual observation reveals the opposite: while the House of Lords has an egalitarian and cooperative ethos that is also supportive of female members, the competitive and aggressive House of Commons is a far less comfortable place for women. Offering many surprises and secrets, this book exposes the sheer oddity of the British parliament system.

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The Humours of Parliament

Harry Furniss's View of Late-Victorian Political Culture

Gareth Cordery and Joseph S. Meisel

The Ohio State University Press, 2014

Harry Furniss (1854–1925), a leading contributor to Punch and other important illustrated magazines, was arguably the most significant political caricaturist and illustrator of the late Victorian and Edwardian eras. He was widely celebrated in his time, and his cartoons helped to define the political world in the public mind. The Humours of Parliament was Furniss’s hugely successful illustrated lecture that he staged throughout the U.K., North America, and Australia during the 1890s. Entertaining his audiences with anecdotes, mimicry, and jokes—along with the spectacle of more than 100 magic lantern slides—Furniss gave his audiences an insider’s view of the mysterious workings of Parliament and the leading political personalities of the day, such as Gladstone, Balfour, and Chamberlain.

Reproducing some 150 images drawn from Furniss’s extensive graphic work, The Humours of Parliament: Harry Furniss’s View of Late-Victorian Political Culture, edited and with an introduction by Gareth Cordery and Joseph S. Meisel, presents Furniss’s unpublished lecture text for the first time. The extensive introduction places the show in its biographical, political, and performative contexts. Cordery and Meisel’s volume therefore both documents a pivotal moment in British political and social history and provides a rare case study of an important yet little studied nineteenth-century performance genre: the illustrated platform lecture.

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The Parliament of 1624

Politics and Foreign Policy

Robert E. Ruigh

Harvard University Press, 1971

In 1624 James I invited Parliament to discuss issues of war and peace, setting a precedent which would make yet another inroad into the ancient prerogatives of the crown. The so-called “Happy Parliament” dismayed the peace-loving King by supporting Prince Charles and the Duke of Buckingham in their demands for war with Spain.

Robert Ruigh presents an absorbing and authoritative analytic narrative of the proceedings between Parliament and the crown and their far-reaching constitutional and political consequences. His use of fifteen parliamentary diaries and other contemporary manuscripts has resulted in a balanced account which avoids the tendency to vilify the Stuarts and glorify the Commons, and which provides an integrated and perceptive picture of the Parliament. He presents an analysis of patronage in relation to the composition of the Commons and a reevaluation of historical generalizations about the senility and ineffectuality of King James during his declining years, the seizure of power by the Duke and the Prince and their management of Parliament, the precedent of free speech in foreign affairs, and the effect of Parliament on contemporary politics.

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The Personal Vote

Constituency Service and Electoral Independence

Bruce Cain, John Ferejohn, and Morris Fiorina

Harvard University Press, 1987

Modern legislators are increasingly motivated to serve their constituents in personal ways. Representatives act like ultimate ombudsmen: they keep in close touch with their constituents and try to cultivate a relationship with them based on service and accessibility. The Personal Vote describes the behavior of representatives in the United States and Great Britain and the response of their constituents as well. It shows how congressmen and members of Parliament earn personalized support and how this attenuates their ties to national leaders and parties.

The larger significance of this empirical work arises from its implications for the structure of legislative institutions and the nature of legislative action. Personalized electoral support correlates with decentralized governing institutions and special-interest policy making. Such systems tend to inconsistency and stalemate. The United States illustrates a mature case of this development, and Britain is showing the first movements in this direction with the decline of an established two-party system, the rise of a centrist third party, greater volatility in the vote, growing backbench independence and increasing backbench pressure for committees and staff.

This book is essential for specialists in American national government, British politics, and comparative legislatures and comparative parties.

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