Clarisse Berthezène - Böcker

This volume examines how the British Conservative Party has appealed to women, the roles that women have played in the party, and the tense relationship between women’s activism on the Right and feminism. Covering the period since the early 20th century, the contributions each question assumptions about the reactionary response of the British Right, Margaret Thatcher’s party, to women’s issues and to their political aspirations.How have women been mobilized by the Conservative Party? What kind of party appeals has the British Conservative Party designed to attract women as party workers and as voters? Developing successful strategies to attract women voters since 1918, and appealing to certain notional women’s issues, and having produced the only two women Prime Minters of the UK, the Conservative Party has its own special relationship with women in the modern period. The shifting status of women and opportunities for women in politics in modern Britain has been garnering more scholarly attention recently, and the centenary of women’s partial suffrage in 2018 and Astor 100 in 2019 has done much to excite wider attention and public interest in these debates. However, the role of Conservative women has too often been seen as problematic, especially because of general assumption that feminism is only allied to leftist movements and political positions. This volume explores these themes through a range of case studies, covering the period from the early 20th to the 21st century. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the journal, Women’s History Review.

This volume examines how the British Conservative Party has appealed to women, the roles that women have played in the party, and the tense relationship between women’s activism on the Right and feminism. Covering the period since the early 20th century, the contributions each question assumptions about the reactionary response of the British Right, Margaret Thatcher’s party, to women’s issues and to their political aspirations.How have women been mobilized by the Conservative Party? What kind of party appeals has the British Conservative Party designed to attract women as party workers and as voters? Developing successful strategies to attract women voters since 1918, and appealing to certain notional women’s issues, and having produced the only two women Prime Minters of the UK, the Conservative Party has its own special relationship with women in the modern period. The shifting status of women and opportunities for women in politics in modern Britain has been garnering more scholarly attention recently, and the centenary of women’s partial suffrage in 2018 and Astor 100 in 2019 has done much to excite wider attention and public interest in these debates. However, the role of Conservative women has too often been seen as problematic, especially because of general assumption that feminism is only allied to leftist movements and political positions. This volume explores these themes through a range of case studies, covering the period from the early 20th to the 21st century. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the journal, Women’s History Review.

This book examines attempts by the Conservative party in the interwar years to capture the ‘brains’ of the new electorate and create a counter-culture to what they saw as the intellectual hegemony of the Left. It tells the fascinating story of the Bonar Law Memorial College, Ashridge, founded in 1929 as a ‘College of citizenship’ to provide political education through both teaching and publications. The College aimed at creating ‘Conservative Fabians’ who were to publish and disseminate Conservative literature, which meant not only explicitly political works but literary, historical and cultural work that carried implicit Conservative messages. This book modifies our understanding of the history of the Conservative party and popular Conservatism, but also more generally of the history of intellectual debate in Britain. It sheds new light on the history of the ‘middlebrow’ and how that category became a weapon for the Conservatives.

Women on the Right explores the complex relationships between conservative and right-wing politics, social action, and women actors from the late 19th to the late 20th century. Edited by Clarisse Berthezène, Laura Lee Downs, and Julie V. Gottlieb, each essay examines the spectrum of women’s engagement with right-wing politics, from centrist and ‘progressive conservatism’ groups, to authoritarianism and fascism.This book uses local and national case studies to explore a wide range of women’s social and political mobilizations. Using a bottom-up perspective, it stays focused on the ideas, ambitions, and practices of the actors themselves. Key points of comparison include: the very different roles played by religious institutions and associations, the broader regional and national contexts, and the dynamics that favour - or not - the eventual construction of welfare states. Women on the Right consistently adopts a multinational and multidimensional approach, by bringing together a team of expert contributors to engage in a discussion of the comparative and transnational features of right-wing women’s political thought and practice. The result is a unique contribution to the historical understanding of women’s participation in - and ideas about - conservative activism.

Women on the Right explores the complex relationships between conservative and right-wing politics, social action, and women actors from the late 19th to the late 20th century. Edited by Clarisse Berthezène, Laura Lee Downs, and Julie V. Gottlieb, each essay examines the spectrum of women’s engagement with right-wing politics, from centrist and ‘progressive conservatism’ groups, to authoritarianism and fascism.This book uses local and national case studies to explore a wide range of women’s social and political mobilizations. Using a bottom-up perspective, it stays focused on the ideas, ambitions, and practices of the actors themselves. Key points of comparison include: the very different roles played by religious institutions and associations, the broader regional and national contexts, and the dynamics that favour - or not - the eventual construction of welfare states. Women on the Right consistently adopts a multinational and multidimensional approach, by bringing together a team of expert contributors to engage in a discussion of the comparative and transnational features of right-wing women’s political thought and practice. The result is a unique contribution to the historical understanding of women’s participation in - and ideas about - conservative activism.

This is an engaging collection of 20 primary sources that provide insights into different approaches to social welfare from around Europe in the long 20th century, focusing particularly on marginalized groups.Each chapter sheds light on a case of collective welfare action, and includes translated archival documents, alongside commentary that contextualises each case, and examines its socio-political underpinnings. This volume explores sources from 12 European countries, capturing historical approaches to collective action, and encompassing a plethora of welfare issues – such as religious and secular philanthropy, youth protection, gender history, and campaigns for prison reform. The result is a detailed study of the social welfare state in Europe.With every source accompanied by an analysis of the ideas, ambitions, and practices of the actors themselves, in addition to an exploration of the larger regional context that influenced each pattern of collective mobilization, the editors highlight the distinction between the social and the political that underlies many forms of action undertaken in the field. Using the idea of ‘unpolitical politics’ as a new lens through which to explore the development of social welfare in a number of European contexts, this volume analyses who and what purports to be ‘neutral’, and why.

This is an engaging collection of 20 primary sources that provide insights into different approaches to social welfare from around Europe in the long 20th century, focusing particularly on marginalized groups.Each chapter sheds light on a case of collective welfare action, and includes translated archival documents, alongside commentary that contextualises each case, and examines its socio-political underpinnings. This volume explores sources from 12 European countries, capturing historical approaches to collective action, and encompassing a plethora of welfare issues – such as religious and secular philanthropy, youth protection, gender history, and campaigns for prison reform. The result is a detailed study of the social welfare state in Europe.With every source accompanied by an analysis of the ideas, ambitions, and practices of the actors themselves, in addition to an exploration of the larger regional context that influenced each pattern of collective mobilization, the editors highlight the distinction between the social and the political that underlies many forms of action undertaken in the field. Using the idea of ‘unpolitical politics’ as a new lens through which to explore the development of social welfare in a number of European contexts, this volume analyses who and what purports to be ‘neutral’, and why.

This book examines attempts by the Conservative party in the interwar years to capture the ‘brains’ of the new electorate and create a counter-culture to what they saw as the intellectual hegemony of the Left. It tells the fascinating story of the Bonar Law Memorial College, Ashridge, founded in 1929 as a ‘College of citizenship’ to provide political education through both teaching and publications. The College aimed at creating ‘Conservative Fabians’ who were to publish and disseminate Conservative literature, which meant not only explicitly political works but literary, historical and cultural work that carried implicit Conservative messages. This book modifies our understanding of the history of the Conservative party and popular Conservatism, but also more generally of the history of intellectual debate in Britain. It sheds new light on the history of the ‘middlebrow’ and how that category became a weapon for the Conservatives.

Rethinking Right-Wing Women explores the institutional structures for and the representations, mobilisation, and the political careers of women in the British Conservative Party since the late 19th century. From the Primrose League (est.1883) to Women2Win (est.2005), the party has exploited women’s political commitment and their social power from the grass-roots to the heights of the establishment. Yet, although it is the party that extended the equal franchise, had the first woman MP to sit Parliament, and produced the first two women Prime Ministers, the UK Conservative Party has developed political roles for women that jar with feminist and progressive agendas. Conservative women have tended to be more concerned about the fulfilment of women’s duties than the realisation of women’s rights. This book tackles the ambivalences between women’s politicisation and women’s emancipation in the history of Britain’s most electorally successful and hegemonic political party.

Rethinking Right-Wing Women explores the institutional structures for and the representations, mobilisation, and the political careers of women in the British Conservative Party since the late 19th century. From the Primrose League (est.1883) to Women2Win (est.2005), the party has exploited women’s political commitment and their social power from the grass-roots to the heights of the establishment. Yet, although it is the party that extended the equal franchise, had the first woman MP to sit Parliament, and produced the first two women Prime Ministers, the UK Conservative Party has developed political roles for women that jar with feminist and progressive agendas. Conservative women have tended to be more concerned about the fulfilment of women’s duties than the realisation of women’s rights. This book tackles the ambivalences between women’s politicisation and women’s emancipation in the history of Britain’s most electorally successful and hegemonic political party.

This volume offers a unique comparative perspective on post-war conservatism, as it traces the rise and mutations of conservative ideas in three countries – Britain, France and the United States - across a ‘short’ twentieth century (1929-1990) and examines the reconfiguration of conservatism as a transnational phenomenon.