Duncan Bell (born 31 December 1976) [1] is Professor of Political Thought and International Relations at the University of Cambridge, and a Fellow of Christ's College, Cambridge. He is based at the Department of Politics and International Studies (POLIS). [2] He works principally on the history of modern British and American political thought, with a particular focus on ideologies of empire and international politics. His book "The Idea of Greater Britain" won the Whitfield Prize from the Royal Historical Society.
Duncan Bell received a degree in war studies at King's College London. Upon graduating, Bell considered joining the military; but the transition to London from a quieter area, and the experiences he had there, changed his plans. He got his MA and PhD from the University of Cambridge. [3] He was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 2021. He is married to Dr Sarah Fine (Department of Philosophy, University of Cambridge). [4] They have two kids.
Meritocracy is the notion of a political system in which economic goods or political power are vested in individual people based on ability and talent, rather than wealth, social class, or race. Advancement in such a system is based on performance, as measured through examination or demonstrated achievement. Although the concept of meritocracy has existed for centuries, the first known use of the term was by sociologist Alan Fox in the journal Socialist Commentary in 1956. It was then popularized by sociologist Michael Dunlop Young, who used the term in his dystopian political and satirical book The Rise of the Meritocracy in 1958. While the word was coined and popularized as a pejorative, its usage has meliorated. Today, the term is often utilised to refer to social systems, in which personal advancement and success are primarily attributed to an individual's capabilities and merits.
Sir John Robert Seeley, KCMG was an English Liberal historian and political essayist. A founder of British imperial history, he was a prominent advocate for the British Empire, promoting a concept of Greater Britain. This he expounded in his most widely known book The Expansion of England (1883). While he was an early advocate of the establishment of political science as a distinct academic discipline, he retained a theological approach in which this was embedded.
The Imperial Federation was a series of proposals in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to create a federal union to replace the existing British Empire, presenting it as an alternative to colonial imperialism. No such proposal was ever adopted, but various schemes were popular in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and other colonial territories. The project was championed by Unionists such as Joseph Chamberlain as an alternative to William Gladstone's proposals for home rule in Ireland.
Greater Britain was a term that arose in the second half of the 19th century in British discourse about the British Empire. The term was used in different ways by different people and sometimes in different ways by the same person. Many were associated with the Imperial Federation League, a political grouping that encompassed political activists from a broad range of backgrounds in supporting a more positive approach to the empire in the policies of the British government.
John Henry Muirhead was a Scottish philosopher best known for having initiated the Muirhead Library of Philosophy in 1890. He became the first person named to the Chair of Philosophy at the University of Birmingham in 1900.
"The Paranoid Style in American Politics" is an essay by American historian Richard Hofstadter, first published in Harper's Magazine in November 1964. It was the title essay in a book by the author the following year. Published soon after Arizona senator Barry Goldwater won the Republican Party presidential nomination over the more moderate Nelson Rockefeller, Hofstadter's article explores the influence of a particular style of conspiracy theory and "movements of suspicious discontent" throughout American history.
Dame Diane Coyle is a British economist. Since March 2018, she has been the Bennett Professor of Public Policy at the University of Cambridge, co-directing the Bennett Institute.
David Armitage is a British historian who has written on international and intellectual history. He has been chair of the history department and is Lloyd C. Blankfein Professor of History at Harvard University.
Liberalism is a political and moral philosophy based on the rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality, right to private property and equality before the law. Liberals espouse various and often mutually warring views depending on their understanding of these principles but generally support private property, market economies, individual rights, liberal democracy, secularism, rule of law, economic and political freedom, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, and freedom of religion, constitutional government and privacy rights. Liberalism is frequently cited as the dominant ideology of modern history.
Tait's Edinburgh Magazine was a monthly periodical founded in 1832. It was an important venue for liberal political views, as well as contemporary cultural and literary developments, in early-to-mid-nineteenth century Britain.
Economic liberalism is a political and economic ideology that supports a market economy based on individualism and private property in the means of production. Adam Smith is considered one of the primary initial writers on economic liberalism, and his writing is generally regarded as representing the economic expression of 19th-century liberalism up until the Great Depression and rise of Keynesianism in the 20th century. Historically, economic liberalism arose in response to feudalism and mercantilism.
William Cornelius Lubenow holds the chair of History at Stockton University, New Jersey. He serves as President of the North American Conference on British Studies, and Chairman of the American Associates Committee of Parliament History. Lubenow is also a member of the Reform Club. His many academic distinctions include: Visiting Fellow of Wolfson College, Cambridge and Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.
Jonathan Philip Parry, commonly referred to as Jon Parry, is professor of Modern British History at the University of Cambridge and Fellow of Pembroke College. He has specialised in 19th and 20th century British political and cultural history and has developed a later interest in the relationship between Britain and the Ottoman Empire.
The Expansion of England: Two Courses of Lectures is a book by English historian John Robert Seeley about the growth of the British Empire, first published in 1883. Seeley argued that the British expansion was based on its defeat of Louis XIV's France in the 18th century, and that the Dominions were critical to English power. He also stated that holding onto India might not be beneficial to England in the long run. The book was a popular success and received a strongly positive response from British politicians and nobility, and several historians have stated that it had great impact upon British thinking.
Geoffrey Hawthorn was a British Professor on International Politics and Social and Political Theory and Head of the Department of Political Sciences and International Politics at the University of Cambridge, as well as a reputed author.
The Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Cambridge is the department at the University of Cambridge responsible for research and instruction in political science, international relations and public policy. It is part of the Faculty of Human, Social, and Political Science.
The historiography of Canada deals with the manner in which historians have depicted, analyzed, and debated the history of Canada. It also covers the popular memory of critical historical events, ideas and leaders, as well as the depiction of those events in museums, monuments, reenactments, pageants and historic sites.
Richard Bourke is a UK-based Irish academic specialising in the history of political ideas. His work spans ancient and modern thought, and is associated with the application of the historical method to political theory. He is Professor of the History of Political Thought at the University of Cambridge, and a Fellow of King's College, Cambridge. He was formerly Professor of the History of Political Thought and Co-Director of the Centre for the Study of the History of Political Thought at Queen Mary, University of London. In July 2018 Bourke was elected a Fellow of the British Academy (FBA).
Roxane Batoul Farmanfarmaian is a British lecturer in international politics at the University of Cambridge.
Jeanne Morefield is associate professor of Political Theory and Fellow at New College, Oxford. She is also a Non-Residential Fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, Washington DC.