Any attempt at comparing contemporary change in the UK and France is a bold one, since it means discussing two very different countries with strong distinctive constitutional identities. This book places its emphasis on the shared historical, political and cultural background of the UK and France, before focusing on the sweeping transformation of their constitutional frameworks in the past quarter of a century at a national and regional level – with a particular emphasis on Wales and Scotland – which culminated in the June 2016 referendum on Britain’s EU membership. Instead of examining each country separately, however, as is traditional, this study breaks new ground by explaining the pattern of institutional development in Britain and France from a comparative Franco-British perspective. It explores the complexities of recent constitutional change in both countries in an original and comprehensive way, and gives both British and French readers a deeper understanding of the two countries that have some much in common even though Brexit could drive them apart.

This paperback edition has now been reissued, alongside Alan Milward's new book The European Rescue of the Nation State.

The period from the fifteenth century to the late eighteenth century was one of critical importance to British constitutionalism. Although the seeds were sown in earlier eras, it was at this point that the constitution was transformed to a system of representative parliamentary government. Changes at the practical level of the constitution were accompanied by a wealth of ideas on constitutions written from different - and often competing - perspectives. Hobbes and Locke, Harrington, Hume, and Bentham, Coke, the Levellers, and Blackstone were all engaged in the constitutional affairs of the day, and their writings influenced the direction and outcome of constitutional thought and development. They treated themes of a universal and timeless character and as such have established themselves of lasting interest and importance in the history of constitutional thought. Examining their works we can follow the shaping of contemporary ideas of constitutions, and the design of constitutional texts. At the same time major constitutional change and upheaval were taking place in America and France. This was an era of intense discussion, examination, and constitution-making. The new nation of the United States looked to authors such as Locke, Hume, Harrington, and Sydney for guidance in their search for a new republicanism, adding to the development of constitutional thought and practice. This collection includes chapters examining the influences of Madison, Hamilton, Jefferson, and Adams. In France the influence of Rousseau was apparent in the revolutionary constitution, and Sieyes was an active participant in its discussion and design. Montesquieu and de Maistre reflected on the nature of constitutions and constitutional government, and these French writers drew on, engaged with, and challenged the British and American writers. The essays in this volume reveal a previously unexplored dynamic relationship between the authors of the three nations, explaining the intimate connection between ruler and ruled.

France and Great Britain, so close geographically but separated by language, culture and history, had been exchanging merchandise, visitors, rulers and ideas for hundreds of years before the eighteenth century. The flow of traffic only quickened during this period, and became a flood, in the direction of Great Britain, during the decade following the Revolution. While certain of these exchanges, such as Voltaire’s sojourn abroad, have been studied in detail, others are coming into focus only as scholars study secondary figures in the host country and the interactions of various groups with its citizens. British-French Exchanges in the Eighteenth Century gathers together fourteen recent essays by scholars from Great Britain and the United States who have examined various parameters of the subject. Correspondences and translations are obvious forms of cultural sharing and are in play in many of the essays. Others recount and analyse the stories of persons who actually visited the other country in circumstances ranging from pure tourism to emigration to a hostage exchange. A final group of essays treats intellectual influences in realms as diverse as encyclopaedism, cultural analysis, connoisseurship, and cosmopolitanism in the arts. The volume is appropriate for collections in history, literature, and culture. TABLE OF CONTENTS Part I: Translations and Correspondence 1 Bernardin de Saint-Pierre’s English Correspondents During the French Revolution MALCOLM COOK 2 The English Translations of Voltaire’s La Pucelle J. PATRICK LEE† 3 Enlightened Exchange: The Correspondence of André Morellet and Lord Shelburne DOROTHY MEDLIN and ARLENE P. SHY 4 The Scottish Enlightenment in Action: The Correspondence of William Robertson and J.-B.-A. Suard JEFFREY SMITTEN Part II: Sojourns Abroad 5 ‘The Only Disagreeable Thing in the Whole’: the Selection and Experience of the British Hostages for the Delivery of Cape Breton in Paris, 1748-49 ROBIN EAGLES 6 Peregrinations to the Convent: Hester Thrale Piozzi and Ann Radcliffe TONYA MOUTRAY MCARTHUR 7 Friend or Foe? French Émigrés Discover Britain ROSENA DAVISON 8 ‘Genuine Anecdotes’: Mary Charlton and Revolutionary Celebrity GILLIAN DOW Part III: Intellectual and Artistic Exchanges 9 Two Partial English-Language Translations of the Encyclopédie: The Encyclopedias of John Barrow and Temple Henry Croker JEFF LOVELAND 10 British Biography in the Encyclopédie méthodique: Histoire KATHLEEN HARDESTY DOIG 11 Diderot, Dentistry and British Politics: Two Neglected Pamphlets DAVID ADAMS 12 British and French Influences on Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur’s Letters from an American Farmer DEIDRE DAWSON 13 A Commonwealth of Connoisseurs: British Humanism in the Art and Science of the Ancien Régime ELIZABETH LIEBMAN 14 An Anglo-Swiss Connection in the Age of Voltaire: Jean Huber’s British Friends and Relations GARRY APGAR

This book compares British, French, and American legislative debates on woman suffrage and women's rights. Beginning with an analysis of Tocqueville and J.S. Mill on the impact of suffrage, the book continues with analysis of floor debates, comparing gender style, the French on parity and the Americans on the ERA and concluding with modern debates.

Britain, France and Europe, 1945-1975 takes a fresh look at the international trajectories of Europe's premier democracies. The side-lining of Britain and France in the Cold War era, argues Adamthwaite, was preventable. A Franco-British Europe came within a whisker of realization. Condemning President Charles de Gaulle as an intransigent gatekeeper created a convenient alibi for self-inflicted missteps. UK bids for European Community membership ignored the elephant in the room - the need for partnership in a superpower age. A marriage powering the Community could have repositioned Western Europe as partner, not client of the United States. Although perceived as a failing power, France outperformed Britain - seizing the initiative in European construction, and winning primacy in western Europe. As well as exploring sharply contrasting national experiences in the aftermath of war, the author analyses the reasons for French success. The analysis evaluates key influences: the mental maps of decision makers; leadership styles; the post-1945 international system; policy making machinery; the 'democratic deficit' in British and French politics; and public opinion. Drawing on American, British and French official records, together with private papers and interviews, this enlightening study highlights the importance of contingency and individual actors, and will be of great interest to scholars of modern European history.

This book offers a detailed investigation of the influence of public opinion and national identity on the foreign policies of France, Britain and the Netherlands in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The quarter-century of upheaval and warfare in Europe between the outbreak of the French Revolution and fall of Napoleon saw important developments in understandings of nation, public, and popular sovereignty, which spilled over into how people viewed their governments—and how governments viewed their people. By investigating the ideas and impulses behind Dutch, French and British foreign policy in a comparative context across a range of royal, revolutionary and republican regimes, this book offers new insights into the importance of public opinion and national identities to international relations at the end of the long eighteenth century.

The eighth and final volume of The Cambridge History of Africa covers the period 1940-75. It begins with a discussion of the role of the Second World War in the political decolonisation of Africa. Its terminal date of 1975 coincides with the retreat of Portugal, the last European colonial power in Africa, from its possessions and their accession to independence. The fifteen chapters which make up this volume examine on both a continental and regional scale the extent to which formal transfer of political power by the European colonial rulers also involved economic, social and cultural decolonisation. A major theme of the volume is the way the African successors to the colonial rulers dealt with their inheritance and how far they benefited particular economic groups and disadvantaged others. The contributors to this volume represent different disciplinary traditions and do not share a single theoretical perspective on the recent history of the continent, a subject that is still the occasion for passionate debate.