Centre for British Politics and Government
'The Centre for British Politics and Government fulfils a need for a new interdisciplinary approach to British politics and government. Brexit has been a point of discontinuity generating significant political and systemic disruption. It has served to illuminate and intensify a wider range of circumstances and tendencies necessitating a renewal in political and governmental studies. They include reorientations in the party system; pressures on the future of the Union; evidence of new patterns in political activism; and the impact of communications technology.
The Centre is a vehicle for the work of the Department of Political Economy at King’s in the fields of British politics and government, employing the unique interdisciplinary approach that is characteristic of the Department. It draws on approaches ranging from history to economics to political science and political theory. Working with associates in the Department of European and International Studies, the Centre promotes a distinctive perspective on British politics and government, engaging with academia within the UK and internationally, the policy environment, and the wider world.
We seek to answer the following questions:
- What social and economic trends are the most significant to British politics and government? What are their implications?
- What are the main domestic and international challenges facing policy-makers? How should they respond to them?
- How well equipped is the British political and governmental system to respond to and manage these trends and challenges? In what way might it change to meet them more effectively?
- How should we theorise British politics in order to address these issues? How can the study of the past help has to understand them?
The Centre includes the Witness Seminar programme previously run by the Institute of Contemporary British History, directed by Dr Michael Kandiah, which has an archive of over 100 seminars on a huge range of topics, such as the 1991 Gulf War, the Child Poverty Action Group, the development of Select Committees, Big Bang in the City, and the roles and functions of UK Embassies and High Commissions.
Please email michael.kandiah@kcl.ac.uk for more information.
Related Teaching
DPE offers Masters degrees in Political Economy, Public Policy, and Politics and Contemporary History, and PhD studies in Political Economy, Politics, Public Policy, and Politics and Contemporary History.
Handbook
The 2017-18 Centre for British Politics and Government handbook can be found here.
Seminars
Contemporary British History seminars can be found on the Institute of Historical Research (IHR) website here.
Staff and Visiting Fellows associated with the Centre:
Dr Andrew Blick
Dr Michael Kandiah
Professor Robert Blackburn
Professor Roger Mortimore
Professor Pat Thane
Dr Michele Blagg
Professor Vernon Bogdanor
Dr Ruth Davidson
Dr Christopher Knowles
Dr Elizabeth Gibson-Morgan
Dr Matthew Glencross
Dr Catherine Haddon
Professor Keith Hamilton
Simon James
Kenneth O. Morgan (Lord Morgan)
Professor Matt Qvortrup
Sir Robert Worcester