This study examines the impact of the Marshall Plan on the British Labour government and the trade union movement. It argues that the British government was able to 'manage' relations with the US in terms of limiting unwanted US influence, while restructuring relations with its domestic support base. in this way, the British government was able to play what Putnam has referred to as a two-level game, satisfying demands at both the national and international levels. The Marshall Plan provides evidence of how, as Putnam explains, 'central decision-makers strive to reconcile domestic and international imperatives simultaneously'. By drawing on TUC archives it shows how the government and the leadership of the TUC used the Marshall Plan to realign the unions and increase their control over the labour movement. The study rejects arguments that the Labour government was forced to change its policies because of the Marshall Plan. Instead it shows that the Labour government used American pressure to persuade its own constituents of the value of its policies. The government and trade union leaderships were able control those on the left through an anti-communist campaign while removing communists from positions of authority. Through its role in the establishment of an anti-communist, pro-Marshall Plan international trade union body, the British Trades Union Congress weakened the left's source of external support. The establishment of a network of pro-Marshall Plan organisations such as the European Recovery Programme Trade Union Advisory Committee and the Anglo-American Council on Productivity, helped the trade union leadership to delineate the parameters of debate and to assure the longer-term marginalisation of the far left.

This thesis examines navvy communities and families at the very end of the nineteenth century against the backdrop of the construction of a specific railway line running through the centre of England: the Great Central Railway London Extension. Although navvies have been subjected to a number of previous studies, this thesis seeks to situate their experiences within the context of late nineteenth century working-class society. It analyses the concept of community in relation to the mainly itinerant workers and their dependents, and explores the role of difference in terms of lifestyle and culture, together with shared experiences, and how these may have helped to define identity. Navvies were still considered by many contemporaries to be somewhat disreputable, isolated and neglected, and thus, at the margins of society. This notion is assessed by reference to their encounters with the various agencies of the Victorian state and voluntary and religious sectors including the police and judiciary, the poor law, the education system, health services and Christian home missionary endeavour. A central theme of the thesis is the importance attached to perceptions of the navvy community. Attention is devoted to the manner in which such perceptions were created, and in particular on the role of literary representations of the navvy. These perceptions often shaped the initial response of local residents to the influx of the workforce, but they were challenged and frequently amended as a result of direct contact. An argument is also advanced that a crucial pointer to the way in which the incomers were regarded and treated was the degree to which they conformed to accepted social norms, not least being that related to respectability.

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Conventional wisdom holds that today’s young people, often known as ‘the Millennials’, are a politically alienated generation. Their hostility towards political parties, association with protest movements, and low electoral turnout are all said to indicate their alienation from the processes and institutions of Western democracy. This conventional wisdom stands, however, on shaky ground. Previous research has given too little attention to the definition and measurement of political alienation, and has barely explored its causal relationship with political participation. The use of methods capable of exploring the generational distinctiveness of the Millennials has been limited, as have efforts to outline why the Millennials should be conceptualised as a distinct political generation in the first place, and what is gained from doing so. Focussing on the case of Britain, this study explores the extent to which the Millennials are a distinct political generation in terms of political participation, political apathy, and political alienation, and considers how their conceptualisation as a distinct generation improves our understanding of their political characteristics. Furthermore, it tests the theory that their alienation from, rather than their apathy towards, formal politics can explain their distinct political behaviour. Through critiquing and developing conceptualisations of the Millennials as a political generation, and of political apathy, alienation and participation, this thesis challenges the conventional wisdom. The Millennials are a distinct generation in terms of their political participation, apathy and alienation – but they are distinct for their lack of participation, their unusually high levels of apathy towards formal politics, and their unusually low levels ofalienation from it. The Millennials have the potential to be the most politically apathetic, and least politically alienated, generation to have entered the British electorate since World War Two. In addition, this research also shows that while generational differences are significant and often substantial, they make only a limited contribution to explaining variation in political apathy, alienation and participation. This research argues, therefore, that future studies into and policy responses to the political behaviour of young people must recognise their distinct levels of political apathy. At the same time, however, the focus on political generations should not be so intense as to obscure the role of more influential causes of differences in political participation.

This thesis examines aspects of the political career of Robert Wilmot Horton (1784-1841), a junior minister in the Tory governments of the 1820s and an advocate of state-aided emigration to the British colonies. It considers how far Wilmot conforms to existing conceptualisations of 'liberal Toryism', which are summarized in Chapter 1. Chapter 2 finds both ambition and principle in Wilmot's choice of party, while identifying fundamental aspects of his political make-up, in particular his devotion to political economy and his hostility to political radicalism. Chapters 3 to 5 explore his economic thinking. Chapter 3 charts Wilmot's gradual move away from a Malthusian approach to the problem of pauperism, and the resulting changes in his view of the role of emigration as a means of relief. Chapter 4 shows how his specific plan of colonization addressed broader considerations of imperial strategy and economic development. Chapter 5, exploring the wider context of economic debate, reveals Wilmot as an advocate of governmental activism in social policy, a critic of 'economical reform', and a moderate protectionist in the short term. Chapter 6 suggests that Wilmot, and the ministry as a whole, were driven by pragmatic rather than ideological considerations in their approach to the amelioration of slavery. Chapter 7 concludes that Wilmot's advocacy of Catholic Emancipation, on grounds of expediency, conformed to the approach normally ascribed to liberal Tories in principle if not in detail. Chapter 8 finds, in Wilmot's pamphleteering and lecturing, a striking instance of an 'outward turn' in political behaviour; and, in his support for parliamentary reform in 1831, a continuing determination to resist political radicalism. Overall, the thesis argues that Wilmot embraced political economy more in its 'secular' than its 'Christian' guise, but took interventionist positions on economic and social questions which set him apart from his colleagues. These conclusions complicate the task of retrieving a convincing ideology of liberal Toryism, if indeed there is one to be found.

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[No abstract available] / Arts, Faculty of / Classical, Near Eastern and Religious Studies, Department of / Graduate

During the middle third of the nineteenth century, the British Government appointed an average of over six royal commissions annually. These commissions examined issues ranging from the use of child labour in factories to Malta and the Civil List. They played a significant role in what is now known as the 'Age of Reform', and during this period they developed a reputation for presenting reports which were both illuminating and useful. Unfortunately, since that time royal commissions have inspired only a very few of the more significant social and constitutional reforms. Used but infrequently, commissions have lost their reputation for constructive inquiry and are now known less for what they have accomplished than for what they have not. This study examines the British royal commission as it is used at the present time, and concludes that it is still a viable method of Government inquiry. The royal commission retains a significant role within the framework of the British Constitution and, used properly, can be an effective means of promoting consensus between the Government and the governed. There has, however, been a distinct tendency for Governments to misuse the royal commission -- to appoint them when they were unnecessary or to appoint them to forestall reform -- with the result that a number of recent investigations have been unsatisfactory. Of the thirty-seven commissions which have reported since 1935, sixteen were completely successful and fulfilled their constitutional role effectively. Seven presented worthwhile reports on which no action was taken. Seven submitted inadequate reports which, although their recommendations were carried out, failed to deal effectively with the problems they were studying. And seven did not complete their investigations or did so in such a fashion that their reports must be considered inferior and their recommendations unusable. Analysis of thirty-five of those commissions indicates that there is a significant correlation between some of the characteristics of royal commissions and commission success. From this analysis and from general consideration of recent commissions, the conclusion seems inescapable that unless the Government sets up a commission with the intention of acting on the basis of its report, the commission's chances of success are very slight. If, however, the Government intends to act on the problem under consideration, takes adequate care to appoint the most appropriate type of commission, and provides that commission with adequate funds and advice, the royal commission can fulfill its constitutional role successfully. Because the royal commission remains a viable -- albeit intermittent -- part of the British Governmental system, this study concludes that the Government, commissioners themselves, and Parliament should make every effort possible to prevent its falling into disuse. The increasing complexity of society makes it unlikely that the commission will ever again have the opportunity to initiate the number of reforms with which it has been credited during the nineteenth century. Nevertheless, used effectively it may be able to retain its position within the British constitutional framework and to regain its reputation for constructive inquiry. / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate