POLI 212 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Elizabethan Religious Settlement, Centrality, Commonwealth Of Nations
17 May 2018
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POLI 212 - Lecture 5
01/24/2018
Topic 2: States, Nations, and their Histories: State-Making and State-Breaking?
Britain vs. France
● 1688: political settlement in that the regime form was settled in British politics
○ Constitutional monarchy established
■ But what constitutionally limited the monarch?
● Parliament which became central political institution
● No higher political authority in British politics than the Parliament
● 1688: also religious settlement in Britain because it is now a Protestant nation
○ French equivalent has neither long-lasting religious or political settlement
● Britain is composite state → it is a union of kingdoms: Wales, Scotland, Ireland
○ 1535 - incorporation of Wales
○ 1707 - incorporation of Scotland
○ 1801 - incorporation of Ireland
● Two conclusions to be drawn from British case:
○ Fair amount of political accomodation in the process of state formation
■ In each of these cases a local Parliament was given up
■ No attempt to efface or eliminate other types of distinct institutions (ie.
religion or education)
● Scotland maintained organization to protect presbyterian church
and kept control over universities
● No attempt to encourage or force Welsh to become Anglicans
■ Nested Identities
● There is a British national identity but there are also nested sub-
state identities (Scottish, Welsh, Irish)
● Very important territorial cleavage in British politics
○ Primarily along substate national lines
○ Welsh, Scottish, and Irish are able to maintain distinct sub-
state national identities
○ Catholic exceptionalism
■ Ireland is exception to Britain being a Protestant nation
■ Irish relationship with British state is very colonial
■ British government was very suspicious of Irish political culture and
political leaders
● Ireland showed sympathy towards republicanism in the period of
the French Revolution
■ There were fears that a Catholic Ireland exposed the geo-political planks
of Great Britain
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Document Summary
1688: political settlement in that the regime form was settled in british politics. No higher political authority in british politics than the parliament. 1688: also religious settlement in britain because it is now a protestant nation. French equivalent has neither long-lasting religious or political settlement. Britain is composite state it is a union of kingdoms: wales, scotland, ireland. Two conclusions to be drawn from british case: Fair amount of political accomodation in the process of state formation. In each of these cases a local parliament was given up. No attempt to efface or eliminate other types of distinct institutions (ie. religion or education) Scotland maintained organization to protect presbyterian church and kept control over universities. No attempt to encourage or force welsh to become anglicans. There is a british national identity but there are also nested sub- state identities (scottish, welsh, irish) Very important territorial cleavage in british politics.
