This course focuses specifically on the historical context and perspective of the relationship of politics and economics in modern societies. Students are guided through an interdisciplinary survey of the historical experience of peoples and places who have participated in the ongoing great transformation away from argricultural societies to the rise of the industrial state and onto post-industrialism. Each term provides a different perspective of this transformation.

Great Britain and the United States of America have deep-seated political, economic, cultural, and historical ties. As well as having both language and law in common, they share an intellectual heritage and distinctive commitment to individual liberty, free-market economics, and limited government. And at pivotal moments in modern history—most notably both World Wars, but also Korea, the Cold War, the Gulf War, and the invasion of Iraq—they have been staunch allies. Yet this “special relationship” has also been marked by conflict and difference. Most obviously during the Wars of Independence and 1812, but also in their varying experiences of (and attitudes towards) religion, race, socialism, and imperialism. Curiously, both nations see themselves as “exceptional” even as they continue to articulate their national identities—in part at least—through comparison to the other. This course will explore the similarities and differences between Great Britain and the United States through examining the relationship between law, political economy, and national identity. We will cover these aspects in turn, looking at each country separately before comparing them, trying to understand their relationships to each other, and thinking about possible ways forward. The course is divided into three main parts, each of which is set out on bCourses and on the syllabus: (1) Core Concepts; (2) Political Economy and Law; and (3); Nation and Empire.

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Requirements class fulfills