Political

As politics in Britain, Europe and the US descends into fragmentation and bitter division, Frank Prochaska commends the civilising voice of Walter Bagehot.

When India and Pakistan gained independence from Britain in 1947, the region’s Princely States – including tiny Sikkim – became pawns in South Asia’s great power politics.

The powerful influence exercised by Thomas, Lord Wharton, before the Reform Act of 1832.

The reforming Tsar sought to westernise his empire, yet in 1723 he published an uncompromising reassertion of his absolutist doctrine, which has traditionally marked Russia’s national consciousness.

During recent turmoil, Greeks have called on their history to form their political protests and criticise the powers they feel are oppressing them.

One of the most brilliant intellectuals of his age, Isaiah Berlin voiced impeccably liberal views.  Yet were his political beliefs compromised by some unsavoury associations?

The momentous final days of Maximilien Robespierre are well documented. Yet many of the established ‘facts’ about the Thermidorian Reaction are myths.

The archetypal image of the Weimar Republic is one of political instability, economic crisis and debauched hedonism. The cliché is being challenged.

Just half a century on from Magna Carta, a radical noble, part idealist, part megalomaniac, came into conflict with King John’s son, Henry III. The result, argues Nigel Saul, was a form of assembly which shapes English political life to this day.