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A History of Collections, the History of Economics as an Academic Discipline – A Cambridge Field Study

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Vient de paraître : ‘The history of collections, the history of economics as an academic discipline: a Cambridge field study’, in Anny King & Paula Laycock (eds.) Celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the French Government Fellowship at Churchill College, Cambridge, Saturday 20th July 2024, Churchill College, Cambridge, with the kind support of the French Embassy, London, pp.76-80.

(See the account of the 2024 meeting here)

Extract from the opening and the closing paragraphs of the paper written for the occasion:

« Following the serendipitous discovery of a first edition of Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations in Poitiers University Library Special Collections in 2009, I embarked upon a project which sought to unravel the whys, hows and wherefores of a collection of early rare economic books in English at Poitiers. The Humanities project for which I was awarded the French Government Fellowship at Churchill College for 2020-2021 resulted from this quest and focused on issues of collection formation and the sourcing of rare economic history books with reference to significant collections and collectors, networking and nodal connections in the world of antiquarian books and academic scholarship in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the very period during which Winston Churchill was collecting books about Napoleon.[1]

[1] Allen Packwood, “France and the French – A Tale of Two statesmen – CHURCHILL AND NAPOLEON”, Finest Hour, 157, Winter 2012-13, Page 14. International Churchill Society, February 28, 2015.

(…)

The intellectual environment at Churchill, the access to archives and libraries in Cambridge and London, the tranquil walks from the College to the Library and the other colleges, the quiet, studious and congenial setting, the social occasions – including strawberries and champagne on the Cam – provided the stimuli needed not only to explore Foxwell’s work, but to kick-start the writing of a book. It was in Sheppard Flats, that I was able to clearly establish the structure of the book resulting from this project, provisionally entitled A Wealth of Rare Books.The Making of the Economic History Corpus.  Academics, Bibliographers, Collectors and Dealers in Political Economy in France, Britain, the United States and Germany, 1880s-1930s, and where I wrote the introduction and several chapters in the spring – summer of 2021. The [first draft of the] manuscript, completed in spring 2024, along with several articles, has been submitted for publication. The motivation and encouragement provided at Churchill were crucial to achieving this result. (…)

Gendered Employment Policies: European Social Models and Gendered Employment

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Vient de paraître : « Gendered Employment Policies: European Social Models and Gendered Employment Today » dans Working Women, 1800-2017: A Never-Ending (R)Evolution, ouvrage dirigé par Martine Stirling and Delphine Sangu, chez Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Newcastle upon Tyne, 2021, pp.25-36.

This paper continues work previously done on gendered employment, particularly with respect to the public services and in particular the education, health, and care sectors in European countries (United Kingdom, France, Italy, Denmark and Norway).[1] It explores whether the welfare typology noted within Europe influences gendered employment and looks at how gendered employment policies initiated within the European social policy framework have affected that. Based on statistical evidence from various European and governmental agencies, the discussion looks in particular at the United Kingdom and its place in the welfare model typology in view of the gendered employment policies which were initiated from the turn of the 21st century.

[1] Susan Finding, Anémone Kober-Smith, (ed.) Politiques familiales et politiques d’emploi «genrées» au Royaume-Uni et en Europe, Observatoire de la société britannique, 14, 2013.

 

Education in the 1970s: increased opportunities, rising discontent?

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Finding, S., ‘Education from Plowden to Thatcher – red, yellow, black and blue building bricks. A decade of increased opportunities or of rising discontent?’ est paru dans A Fresh Look at Britain in Crisis 1970-1979, (dir. S. Porion), Paris, Atlande, 2017 et fait suite à la journée d’étude « Le Royaume-Uni à l’épreuve de la crise, 1970-1979), tenu le 21 octobre 2016 à l’Université François Rabelais, Tours  (voir compte rendu).

The historiography of the educational field in these years is amply covered, especially in terms of policy and of ideology. Most works covering the period of the 1970s dividing it up into binary divisions corresponding either to the political chronology (Heath, Wilson and Callaghan governments) or ideology – Conservative and Labour, or to the areas of education – compulsory and post-compulsory – primary and secondary – higher and further or vocational. This paper does not escape those strictures, partly due to the subject matter itself.

The building bricks in the title of this paper refer partly to the political divide – Red and Blue, and partly to the various publications, the so-called Yellow Book of 1976, the Black Papers published between 1969 and 1977. One could add various White Papers (government policy documents) the Green Paper of 1977 (official discussion paper), and the Brown Paper of 1979 (which never made it to Green or White paper stage.

However it is perhaps more useful to divide this analysis up into two main themes characterized by questions concerning firstly, expansion and equality, and secondly, standards and opportunity. The threads which run through the period general to other fields, are also to be found in the educational field. These transcend the political divide, and which were leitmotivs in the discourse of the time, whether it be left, right or center. Among these are the role of central government, the power of the trades unions, the cost of welfare in a period of financial turbulence, and ultimately, the critique of the post-war welfare consensus.

Qui gouverne les mégapoles ? Les maires élus au suffrage direct en Angleterre

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Manchester Town Hall (Credit: manchester.gov.uk)

Depuis quinze ans au Royaume-Uni les électeurs ont été consultés par référendum sur des changements concernant la dévolution des pouvoirs exécutifs, la création d’un poste de maire de Londres (1997), l’élection des maires au suffrage direct (2002-2012) et, dernièrement, le système électoral (2012). Le poste de maire a une longue histoire au Royaume-Uni. La nouveauté est la manière dont ils sont élus et l’importance accrue de ce poste qui va de pair avec l’autorité qu’apporte le scrutin direct.

London City Hall (Crédit : London.gov.uk) 

Vient de paraître dans le numéro 14 | 2015 : Who Governs in the Americas and in Europe? de la revue en ligne Mémoire(s), Identité(s) et Marginalité(s) dans le monde occidental contemporain Cahiers du MIMMOC, un article intitulé ‘Who governs Britain – Democracy in action? Directly Elected Mayors in England’ qui analyse les débats sur les avantages et les inconvénients de l’élection directe des maires dans le contexte de la problématique de la nature de la démocratie et d’interrogations sur l’efficacité des institutions démocratique au Royaume-Uni. L’article examine les raisons qui expliquent le succès ou non des changements que représente cette nouvelle forme démocratique, en particulier l’échelle à laquelle la démocratie directe semble être opérative.