|
A
Useful History of Britain The Politics of Getting Things Done
Michael
Braddick
Oxford: University
Press, 2021 Hardback,
xii+254 pp. ISBN 978-0198848301. £20
Reviewed by Hugh Clout University College London
This challenging book
proclaims both history and politics in its title but might well have also privileged
connectivity, space and scale. Its aim is threefold: to distinguish between
‘collective and differential political power and how the relationship between
these two things is a central dynamic of political life’ [36]; to grasp ‘how
these relationships are regulated by institutions, which embody rules and
constitutions to frame them’ [37]; and to appreciate ‘how such institutions
create possibilities but also limits on future action’ [37], expressed through
the controversial notion of path dependency. Grounded in the United Kingdom at
the historical moment of Brexit and COVID 19, Michael Braddick (Professor of
history at the University of Sheffield) illustrates his argument across a broad
sweep of time and with an international perspective. Thus, Stonehenge figures
prominently in the first few pages which move on swiftly to a consideration of
the impact of globalization which has ‘cut European states down to size’ [8]
and has made political questions other than those embedded in Britain or the
European continent now seem more important. The first four of the
book’s eight chapters explore the operation of political power, initially
demonstrating ‘how much of the history of political life can be understood as a
dialogue between collective power over the social and material world and the
differential power of one person or group over others’ [11]. Emergent legal and
institutional arrangements create possibilities for action but may also constrain
future developments. The next three chapters investigate factors that condition
how collective institutions are used through the mobilization of ideas,
encounters with varied material conditions, and the collective capacity to
organize, as displayed by different groups of people that range from traditional
rural communities to modern nation states. Braddick shows how political power
is exercised to deal with material challenges such as harvest failure in the Middle
Ages through to uncertainties associated with ‘the great fluidity of capital
[and] the threat of climate change and global pandemics’ in our own time [12].
Organizational and technological innovations offer new possibilities for
action, witness the digital revolution and big data analysis, but these
opportunities are never limitless. Only time will tell what their boundaries
may prove to be. The remaining four
chapters examine various ways in which collective institutions have been used
through time. Chapter 5 investigates what the author calls ‘geographies of
power’ [12] that are expressed at various scales ranging from the manor,
parish, town or county to the nation as a whole and onward to international
organizations. This argument leads logically to a critical consideration not
only of the powerful but also of the apparently powerless. ‘Men, white people,
heterosexuals, and older people have all been empowered by assumptions about
what the natural order should look like and by their power to speak for it or
to act as its guardian’ [152]. From Roman times onwards, men have been more
systematically empowered than women but, the author insists, that is ‘not to
say that all men have been more powerful than all women – most men who have
lived on Great Britain had access to less power than Boudica, Elizabeth I, or
J.K. Rowling’ [153]. Direct action is shown to cover a plethora of issues from
peasants’ revolts to present-day protests over climate change. With remarkable
imagination, Michael Braddick juxtaposes the Mangrove Café, which offered a
safe informal space for Black Londoners in the 1960s, alongside examples of the
material legacy left by discontented tilers in first-century Londinium and
Bath. In a more
conventional way, chapter 7 traces phases in the history of British political
life in relation to broad material and technological change, the impact of
emerging ideas, and the effects of changing organizational capacity. Covering
only two dozen pages, a suite of short sections captures the essentials of
British life from the Neolithic age to post-war times in which the UK responded
to ‘shared features of a global world – neoliberal globalization, proliferating
inter-state cooperation, increasing mobility of capital, and latterly of
labour’ [212]. The final chapter ‘globalizes’ Britain’s past and elucidates the
variable connectivity of the British Isles with other parts of the world at
different historical moments. British involvement in the trans-Atlantic slave
trade provides a striking and shameful example. Unlike the promotion of
national brands of historical enquiry in the nineteenth century, ‘what to make
of the nation state now presents something of a conundrum for both historians
and politicians. Histories of global connection have left national history in
an oddly marginal position’ [217]. Michael Braddick
declares: ‘If politics is the art of the possible, much public history and many
politicians seem to have missed the point. Over the years, UK politicians of
all parties have placed more emphasis on understanding the history of British values
and institutions than on the history of political agency’ [219]. More
attention, he maintains, is needed ‘to unpick in detail the relationship
between ideas and material change, [and] between political and economic power
in shaping historical development’ [221]. He admits that his book ‘has not
proposed an answer, or offered an institutional blueprint, but rather offers an
invitation to have a different and more provocative discussion about what past
experience might teach us’ [223]. His powerful text is complemented by a
bibliography arranged by chapter, a brief essay offering advice on further
reading, and sixteen black and white illustrations that range from a view of
Hadrian’s Wall, a depiction of Edward the Confessor, and an image of a plague
order in London (1665), to pictures of suffragette Emeline Pankhurst, of a
woman making a Merlin aircraft engine during World War II, and of
anti-apartheid protesters in Cardiff in the late 1960s. A Useful History of
Britain
is undoubtedly remarkable for its sustained debate and selection of material
both through time and across space. Some readers will applaud these qualities
as evocative of the longue durée tradition displayed in the influential work
of Fernand Braudel. Rather than being impressed by the author’s dexterity of
argument, others may be disconcerted by the close juxtaposition of examples
drawn from vastly different periods. For them, comfort appears in chapter 7
which presents a more familiar sequential narrative. Who will find this book
really useful? My initial reaction was that it might appeal to a wide audience
seeking pathways to explore the past. Indeed, I imagined that a paperback
version might be envisaged with additional illustrative material depicted in
full colour. But on reflection, I must conclude that its market is most
probably among students taking degrees in history (or politics) and among associated
academics since a considerable amount of prior knowledge of the British past is
required. At £20 hardback, this stimulating volume is undoubtedly good value.
All rights are reserved and no reproduction from this site for whatever purpose is permitted without the permission of the copyright owner. Please contact us before using any material on this website.
|
|
|
