The fifth Earl of Carlisle's name appears regularly in works dealing with English political history of the later eighteenth century, but our knowledge of his life and works is nevertheless scanty. Accordingly this thesis seeks to furnish a fairly complete picture of Lord Carlisle, placing special emphasis on his contribution to politics and dealing at some length with his public offices, in particular his position on the Peace Commission which went to America in 1778, his presidency of the Board of Trade from 1779 to 1780, and his viceroyalty of Irelcud from 1780 to 1782. His official life, however, was brief, but contrary to received opinion it will appear in this thesis that for the rest of his life he was by no means politically inactive. Liberating himself to some extent from the influence of more powerful political characters, he deliberately refused office on several occasions and seems to have established himself consciously as a disinterested independent. Such a condition, especially in an aristocratic context, has received little attention from historians, preoccupied with the growth or collapse of party. Aside from politics, some time has also been spent on Carlisle's involvement in local politics and in other traditional practices of the time, and where possible these have been used to illustrate his political attitudes. In particular, for example, there was a direct correlation between his estimation of the value of local political influence and his conception of the structure of politics at Westminster. Finally, it is not claimed in this thesis that Carlisle was an historically influential figure in the official political establishment of his day. Independents do not seek political power. But it is suggested that he was uncommon in his conscious independence, and that he was probably only one of a more numerous body of principled independents than is generally acknowledged.

This thesis examines the administrative history of the middle decade of Edward Ill's reign, between the victories of Crecy and Poitiers, It is often assumed that, after the crisis of 1340-1, the king was only able to maintain domestic peace at the cost of his own power. But the administrative records reveal that this political stability was the result not of a renunciation, but a restoration of royal authority. The king annulled the statute of 1341 limiting his control over appointment of ministers, removed from power the Stratford party which had dominated the government in the 1330's, and gave control of the departments of state to the members of his earlier household administration of 1338-40. These men, enjoying long tenure of office, then put into effect the administrative system planned in the Walton Ordinances of 1338. Bureaucratic reforms in the Chancery, the privy seal, the Exchequer and the household created a more efficient, and therefore more effective administration. These changes were co-ordinated in the king's council, which used its legislative and judicial authority to increase central control. In parliament, the king's ministers were able to direct business, obliging the Commons to grant taxes in return for remarkably few statutory concessions. And the best-enforced legislation of the period was that which accorded with government policy, implemented in the provincial sessions of the King's Bench. The greatest success of the regime however was to transform the financial disasters of the late 1330's into the financial security of the mid 1350's. This was the work of treasurer Edington, the most influential and long-lived of the ministers of this period. The success of the government, however, depended not on one man, but on the co-operation and inter-dependence of the whole administration, united in its common determination to restore the authority of the Crown.

Worker co-operatives, meaning firms producing goods or services that are owned and managed by their workers, have been a marginal and problematic form of production in Britain since their first period of substantial growth in the 19th century. They have recurrent difficulties attracting capital, developing business expertise among their members, sustaining long-term commitment and growing to the size required to compete efficiently in many industries. Yet there has been a remarkable upsurge of interest in co-operatives during the past decade, and their many successes in diverse industries demonstrate that co-operatives can offer their members a powerful combination of strong business performance and a highly satisfying work life. This thesis asks whether the weaknesses apparent in co-operatives historically, and present in many still today, are inherent in the co-operative form. Is the co-operative sector bound to remain basically marginal, or could it, with the aid of some practical reforms, come to play a significant role in the British economy? Recognising that any answer to this question is speculative, the thesis concludes that co-operatives are not inherently flawed indeed they fail at about the same rate as traditionally organised small businesses but that they do place an unusual range of demands on members which, in a legal, financial and political climate not yet geared to co-operatives, mean that democratic firms are likely to remain a small portion of the economy. The plan of the thesis is as follows: After a brief introductory chapter, Chapter Two surveys the present state of British co-operatives and examines the external economic and legal environment in which co-operatives function. Chapter Three surveys recent research in organisational behaviour, especially about small group behaviour in traditional businesses, to assess whether the high productivity frequently asserted for co-operatives has theoretical foundation, whether co-operatives commonly violate any established principles of good organisational design and whether large co-operatives can be run efficiently and democratically. Chapter Four presents the economic status of women in the British workforce and looks at whether the attributes of co-operatives are congruent with women's needs. Two mini-case studies are presented, of a bookselling and a cleaning co-operative, each composed entirely of women. Chapters Five, Six and Seven present the results of the field research conducted for this thesis. Each is a case study of a functioning co-operative based on extensive interviews with its members, reviews of the co-operative's files, and a brief analysis of its financial performance. The goal was to understand as much as possible about the consequences of choosing the co-operative form: for the members' job satisfaction and for the firm's productivity, market sensitivity, ability to grow, ability to employ women, and internal dynamics. Chapter Eight sets out the conclusions suggested by comparing the case studies in light of the literature examined in Chapters Two through Four.

This thesis examines the relationship of ideology to policy-making on two levels: on the theoretical level, it advances a distinction between philosophical, commentative and participant ideology; on the policy level, it takes as its major case study the reforms initiated by New Labour in the Departments of Social Security, Health and Education and Employment between 1997 and 2001. The thesis pays particular attention to the deployment of morphological analysis as a means to interpret and decode New Labour's policy practices and thereby opens up new areas for research on the role of ideas in politics. It also delineates the conceptual formulae for the core concepts of New Labour's ideology, stressing conceptual interconnections and contributing to interpretative and normative political theory. Using these to frame the analysis, it presents an account of New Labour's conceptual patterns easily accessible to political philosophers. Finally, the thesis counters the dominant modes of analysing ideology in social policy and shows the strong similarities between the morphological conception of ideology and standard forms of institutional and social policy analysis. New Labour is shown to create the following patterns: Individuals have rights to the conditions of freedom as self-development, which generate duties sanctionable by legal and direct socioeconomic penalties on others. Where rights do not apply, individuals have personal responsibilities that are presented as supererogatory expectations. The conditions of freedom are to be distributed equally in a manner consistent with progress and social justice for all members of a community who, relating to each other ultimately on the basis of enlightened self-interest, are interdependent and working together across the spheres of a social conception of civil society, a strongly representative and government-dominated conception of democracy and a capitalist market conceived of as a common good. By so doing, each enjoys the freedom of self-development.

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This thesis outlines the development of the protests by students which took place in Britain from 1965 to 1972, and investigates the reasons for the occurrence of these protests at that particular time. This inquiry has used national and student newspapers, extensive archive material, secondary sources, and oral history interviews to carry out these aims. In particular, this thesis will suggest that sLudent protest can only be understood in the light of changes in attitudes to authority in the post-war period. The position of young people in society was transformed in the decades following the Second World War, and this change was itself the result of social, economic and cultural changes which will be considered as part of this thesis. It will be argued that deterministic interpretations, which have suggested that student protest was the result of revolutionary politics, group conformity, rebellion against parental or social disciplines, or rapid university expansion, have been mistaken. Instead, students took part in protests upon specific issues about which they felt strongly, usually because they believed that those in authority had committed injustices. This protest could only take place, therefore, once prevailing attitudes to authority had changed. and students felt that it was both possible and acceptable to challenge the decisions of those who were in. authority.

The Jewellery Quarter of Birmingham has its base in small interdependent workshop craft production in a long-established location for which the concept of occupational community appeared an appropriate research tool. The ahistorical approach of studies of occupational communities is critically addressed and it is argued that the theory of occupational community can be deployed historically to investigate the particular conditions of the Jewellery Quarter and explain the construction of these over time. The origins of the industry in Birmingham are investigated in detail and the patterns of localisation together with the structure and organisation of the industry in the nineteenth century are analysed. The establishment of the local formal institutions which developed to support the industry is traced. An account is given of redevelopment, refurbishment, and recession in the post-war era. The current location of firms in the area is analysed, together with the organisation of work in the local industry. The occupational community of the Jewellery Quarter is described and analysed. The nature of interdependence, the daily interaction and the role of family are explained. The concept of work-in-leisure is discussed in relation to the Jewellery Quarter. The formal methods of recruitment to the local industry are reviewed against the needs of the local industry, and it is shown how the community itself acts as an informal channel of recruitment. The ambiguities surrounding women's employment in the industry are explored. While women are still concentrated in low-paid, low skilled work, it is argued that historically they have also been present as owners and craftswomen, and the factors which enable this are analysed. The methodology used in the study is detailed and the link between the methodology and concept of occupational community is discussed. In this study the broad use of the theory of occupational community has shown how the historical pattern continues to influence the community. Finally it is argued that the study contributes to the current debate on small firm survival and persistence.

From the time of the Reformation in England Anglo-vatican relations have typically been seen as a long history of unending antagonism. It is not common knowledge that in the period between 1846 and 1851 there was a notable, if temporary, lull in this animosity and even talk of establishing full diplomatic relations. This thesis aims to account for this thaw in tensions and to analyse the British response to the early 'liberal' years of Pope Pius IX, not only looking at government policy but also the attitude of the British public towards the new Pope. In addition, this study sets out not only to look at individual issues, such as the Risorgimento, the history of the Roman Catholic Church in England and the Irish question, but seeks to explain the interplay between them in order to come to a fuller understanding of British policy. This thesis reveals that British policy was based on the need to achieve a number of goals, such as a peaceful solution to the political crisis in the Italian peninsula and the curbing of the Irish agitation, and that it was held that an enlightened Pope could help in the fulfilment of these aims. The effort to improve relations in the end failed as it was undermined by an overoptimistic assessment of the Pope's liberalism and failure of the British government to appreciate the depth of anti-Catholic opinion among the British public and their representatives in Parliament. The result was that this short thaw in relations came to an abrupt end.

The evidence for this thesis includes several hundred pew disputes heard before the church courts in the period c.1550-1700. The jurisdictions examined here include the dioceses of York, of Chester, of Coventry and Lichfield, and of London. These have been supplemented by churchwardens' accounts, parish registers and vestry minutes. These sources also often contained pew lists and plans that are analysed alongside rate assessments and other taxation records. This thesis investigates the relationship between church seating arrangements and the social hierarchy of local communities in sixteenth and seventeenth century England. It firstly, therefore, explores both legal and official views regarding church seating and status. Secondly, it examines the nature and chronology of conflict over pews, and the social profile of disputants. Thirdly, it explores popular perceptions of the social order through the analysis of the depositional evidence generated by pew disputes. Fourthly, the chronology of pew litigation is explored in the light of ecclesiastical policy and the reaction to these policies in the localities, particularly during the 1630s. Fifthly, the thesis considers the possibility that dispute was a function of the function implication of changing methods of pew allocation. Finally, through the consideration of the meaning of conflict over church seating as it erupted in the context of three parishes over a number of years, the role each of these themes played in helping to construct the local social order is analysed. The analysis of the records of pew disputes and of the politics of space in church here enables us to perceive more clearly how contemporaries attempted to negotiate their social roles across a complex web of intersecting and overlapping hierarchies and thereby become agents in the recreation of the local social order. Moreover, depositional evidence in particular suggests that status itself was a compound phenomenon that incorporated a number of factors including wealth, age, gender, reputation and officeholding.

This thesis investigates religious life among the clergy and laity in the diocese of Lichfield, 1603-1642, including the role of Puritans, Catholics and Church Papists. Nicholas Tyacke has maintained that the implementation of Laudianism in Charles I's reign proved contentious, an interpretation criticised by some historians who aver that the Church continued to maintain a 'middle way'. This study finds that the evidence from the diocese largely supports Tyacke's interpretation. Proto-Laudian reforms were implemented in the see some years before the Laudian ascendancy through the episcopates of Neile and Overall. Every bishop in the period who undertook a programme of reform met local hostility and indifference, and sometimes the opposition of his ecclesiastical and lay superiors. Every religious group underwent change and development. Puritans and Catholics pursued strategies for survival, supported by their respective religious networks. Official opposition often had the effect of strengthening their resolve and confirming them in their beliefs. Local conformists' commitment to the established Church deepened during this period. They respected the Church's role as the official purveyor of religion, morality and the ecclesiastical rites of passage, without evidencing much theological understanding. In the 1630s Bishop Wright oversaw the Laudian programme of sacramental, sacerdotal and liturgical reform, but his lack of organisation, zeal and commitment frustrated Charles, Laud and some local diocesan officials. The changes met resistance, which gathered strength with the collapse of the Personal Rule and manifested itself either in a desire to return to the pre-Laudian Church, or in its root and branch reform. The strength of an individual's anti-Catholicism indicated which religious solution s/he supported. When war came, for the most part Puritans predictably supported Parliament, but a number of moderate Puritans supported the King. Even among the 'godly' fraternity allegiance could sometimes be determined by a variety of considerations.