RIOT ACTS, POPULAR PROTEST, AND PROTESTANT MENTALITIES IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY IRELAND

2006 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 403-423 ◽  
Author(s):  
NEAL GARNHAM
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
The Political ◽  
Economic Systems ◽  
Legislative Action ◽  
Popular Protest ◽  
Self Confidence ◽  
Civil Disorder ◽  
Popular Movements

The condition of the Anglican elite in eighteenth-century Ireland has been the focus of some debate by historians. Members of the Protestant Ascendancy class have been variously cast as a community under constant threat, or as a self-confident group secure in their control of the country's political and economic systems. Various contributions to this dialogue have been made through the study of popular movements and civil disorder. Rather than further comment on such phenomena this article seeks to examine the reactions of the Irish political elite to them. Although the country had no general Riot Act on the English model until 1787, legislative initiatives were made on several occasions prior to this. While these initially tended to be unsuccessful in parliament, local in their application, and to impose relatively lenient punishments, attitudes began to change in the 1770s. The political elite then moved comparatively rapidly to general legislation that created riot as a felony. Such developments suggest that prior to the last quarter of the eighteenth century civil disorder was not seen as a real threat to Protestant ascendancy, though Protestant fears finally culminated in legislative action in 1787. Arguably it was this event that marked the first great nadir in Anglican self-confidence in eighteenth-century Ireland.

The corruption of the law and popular violence: the crisis of order in Dublin, 1729

2014 ◽  
Vol 39 (153) ◽  
pp. 1-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy D. Watt
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Late Spring ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
Considerable Degree ◽  
The Political ◽  
Personal Safety ◽  
Popular Protest ◽  
Secretary Of State ◽  
Early Eighteenth Century ◽  
The City

Even though violent popular protest was a common feature of life in early eighteenth-century Dublin, the riots that broke out in 1729 were exceptionally severe and long-lasting and resulted in the worst disorder to occur in the capital in decades. Over a ten-month period rival gangs rioted against each other or against government forces, causing a considerable degree of destruction, injury and death. At the height of the disorder, in late spring and summer, ‘vast numbers’ of people were reportedly beaten and abused by rioters, and residents of the city became fearful for their personal safety. According to the Dublin Intelligence citizens moved ‘mostly in a kind of hurry’ on account of the riots; parts of the city became no-go areas, and gangs of ‘reprobates’ gathered on the outskirts of the city to rob travellers and rape women. The political elite voiced their concerns too, in particular at the length of time the disorder was lasting. The archbishop of Armagh, Hugh Boulter, wrote to the secretary of state, the duke of Newcastle, from Dublin in March 1730 complaining that they had ‘suffered very much from riots and tumults in this town last summer and even during the present sitting of the parliament’.

‘Like amphibious animals’: Irish protestants, ancient Britons, 1691–1707

1993 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 785-797 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jim Smyth
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Great Britain ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
The Political ◽  
The People ◽  
Parliamentary Sovereignty ◽  
Inferior Status ◽  
The Face ◽  
Religion And Ethnicity ◽  
Two Kingdoms

ABSTRACTIreland in the 1690s was a protestant state with a majority catholic population. These protestants sometimes described themselves as ‘the king's Irish subjects’ or ‘the people of Ireland’, but rarely as ‘the Irish’, a label which they usually reserved for the catholics. In constitutional and political terms their still evolving sense of identity expressed itself in the assertion of Irish parliamentary sovereignty, most notably in William Molyneux's 1698 pamphlet, The case of Ireland's being bound by acts of parliament in England, stated. In practice, however, the Irish parliament did not enjoy legislative independence, and the political elite was powerless in the face of laws promulgated at Westminster, such as the i6gg woollen act, which were detrimental to its interests. One possible solution to the problem of inferior status lay in legislative union with England or Great Britain. Increasingly in the years before 1707 certain Irish protestant politicians elaborated the economic, constitutional and practical advantages to be gained from a union, but they also based their case upon an appeal to the shared religion and ethnicity of the sovereign's loyal subjects in the two kingdoms. In short the protestants insisted that they were English. This unionist episode thus illustrates the profoundly ambivalent character of protestant identity in late seventeenthand early eighteenth-century Ireland.

Eighteenth-Century English Politics: Recent Work

2000 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 248-272
Author(s):  
Jeremy Black
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
Historical Study ◽  
The Political ◽  
Dust Jacket ◽  
The Subject ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The One ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
English Politics

This article is intended as a sequel to the one published in Albion 28, 4 ([Winter 1996]: 607–33). As with the earlier article, it reflects the wealth of recent scholarship and adopts a wide definition of politics, and there is a powerful element of choice and subjectivity. The last arises in part from the breadth of the subject. A definition of the political culture and process of the period that directs attention to cultural, religious, social and gender issues is not one that can be readily summarized by restricting attention to the world of Court, Parliament, and the political elite.Last time I began with cultural politics, and it is worth renewing this approach because the role of discourses as both forms of political expression and the subject of historical study remain important. The most prominent book in this field was a disappointment. John Brewer's The Pleasures of the Imagination: English Culture in the Eighteenth Century (1997) is a work about and of consumerism. The forcing house of eighteenth-century public demand provides the essential pressure for cultural modernization and for the definition of taste in this account. Consumerism has also structured Brewer's book as a cultural and intellectual artefact. As he acknowledges, he wanted to ensure that the book “would be a beautiful object,” and HarperCollins has amply fulfilled this requirement. The publisher was also responsible for fighting what Brewer terms the “alien abstractions” of the original prose, and presumably for the decision to dispense with footnotes. The book as consumer product contributes to the sumptuous cover illustration, a painting of “Sir Rowland and Lady Winn in the Library at Nostell Priory,” to the photograph of the relaxed author on the dust-jacket, and to the laudatory quotes from two big names, Simon Schama and Lisa Jardine, not noted for their work on the subject but then most potential purchasers would not know that.

scholarly journals Social Mobility and Political Regimes: Intergenerational Mobility in Hungary, 1949–2017

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paweł Bukowski ◽  
Gregory Clark ◽  
Attila Gáspár ◽  
Rita Pető
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Market Economy ◽  
Social Mobility ◽  
Liberal Democracy ◽  
Free Market ◽  
Lower Class ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
Communist Regime ◽  
The Political ◽  
Free Market Economy

AbstractThis paper measures social mobility rates in Hungary during the period 1949 to 2017, using surnames to measure social status. In those years, there were two very different social regimes. The first was the Hungarian People’s Republic (1949–1989), which was a communist regime with an avowed aim of favouring the working class. The second is the modern liberal democracy (1989–2017), which is a free-market economy. We find five surprising things. First, social mobility rates were low for both upper- and lower-class families during 1949–2017, with an underlying intergenerational status correlation of 0.6–0.8. Second, social mobility rates under communism were the same as in the subsequent capitalist regime. Third, the Romani minority throughout both periods showed even lower social mobility rates. Fourth, the descendants of the eighteenth-century noble class in Hungary were still significantly privileged in 1949 and later. And fifth, although social mobility rates did not change measurably during the transition, the composition of the political elite changed rapidly and sharply.

The African Crowd in Nairobi: Popular Movements and Élite Politics

1973 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 275-290 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank Furedi
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Political Process ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
The Political ◽  
Urban Centre ◽  
Elite Politics ◽  
Private And Public ◽  
Popular Movements ◽  
High Level

The absence of popular participation in the political process of post-independent Kenya should be seen as the outcome of a political tension, which has its roots in the colonial period. The growth of Nairobi, a colonial urban centre par excellence, provided unequal opportunities for its African population. The majority of the Nairobi Africans came to constitute the African crowd—domestic servants, the majority of workers in private and public employment, and petty traders. This group should be distinguished from the Nairobi African middle class which formed the ‘political élite’. The African middle class possessed a fairly high level of education and had remunerative positions with government or were wealthy traders. By the mid-'forties, this group had become well integrated within the colonial system.The different, and often contradictory, interests of these two groups of people was strikingly manifested on the level of political action. The ‘popular movements’ of the African crowd were direct and often extra-constitutional. Their organizations, e.g. the 40 Group, were characteristically militant, and were often based on mass support. The ‘élite politics’ of the African middle class were strictly constitutional and moderate. Their goal—to consolidate their position within the colonial system—had obviously only limited appeal. The conflict between these two social groups was resolved by the elimination of the African crowd as a political force.

Introduction

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Russell E. Martin
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
The Political ◽  
Close Reading ◽  
Russian Science ◽  
Religious Attitudes ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Court Politics ◽  
Women And Power

This chapter focuses on the wedding rituals and dynasties in Russia. It describes and analyzes the themes explored by Russian polymath and “father of Russian science” Mikhail Lomonosov — ritual, dynasty, religion, royal women, and power (and several more) — as they were expressed in royal weddings from the end of the fifteenth century through the first half of the eighteenth century. The chapter then argues that court politics in Muscovy was marriage politics, and the marriage of the ruler was the critical moment in every generation of the dynasty. Each time the ruler married, the political elite around him reshuffled, with new royal in-laws joining the ranks of the innermost circle of courtiers in the Kremlin. It also notes that royal weddings, like other court rituals, were manipulated by wedding choreographers and sometimes by rulers themselves to project a dynastic message. Finally, and most fundamentally, the chapter rests on a close reading of texts, most notably the rich corpus of Muscovite royal wedding documents. The creation of these texts were genuine events in the political and cultural life of the court, reflecting changes in ruling dynasties, religious attitudes, and political agendas.

Indicators of imbalance in the distribution policies in some Arab countries

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 181-197
Author(s):  
Hakim Mohsin Al-Rubaie
Keyword(s):  
Arab Countries ◽  
Social Classes ◽  
The Political ◽  
Economic Systems ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Economic Changes ◽  
Economic Discourse ◽  
Income Levels ◽  
Production And Distribution ◽  
Popular Movements

Politics and economics are described as being inseparably and inextricably related, such that economic discourse is also political discourse. Policies are only a reflection of the opinions and ideas of the ruling institutions, hence the economic system and its policies manifest in the field of investment, production and distribution. While the governments and ruling authorities in all economic systems speak of justice in distribution, however, the reality contradicts that as there is disparity in the income levels between individuals. The level of difference may be narrowing between some social classes, but it is widening among the poorer classes. This paper will focus on indicators of imbalance in the distribution policies in some Arab countries, selecting those where popular movements have taken place. Some claim that one of the main causes of these movements is the lack of just distribution. Although that is true to some extent, it does not mean that there were fairer distribution policies in the countries which did not see such popular movements. This is also the answer to the claim which attributes these movements to outside forces seeking to change the Arab political systems. This paper ends with conclusions and recommendations based on the research regarding the political and economic changes these Arab countries must make to ensure justice in their distribution policies.

ELITE WOMEN, SOCIAL POLITICS, AND THE POLITICAL WORLD OF LATE EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY ENGLAND

2000 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 669-697 ◽  
Author(s):  
ELAINE CHALUS
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
Social Dimension ◽  
The Political ◽  
Social Politics ◽  
Social Situations ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Political World ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Relationship

Political historians have recognized that politics and high society interacted in eighteenth-century England; and most would also recognize the presence of elite women in the social world of politicians. These assumptions have not, however, been subjected to much scrutiny. This article takes the social aspects of politics seriously and aims to provide an introduction to social politics – the management of people and social situations for political ends – and, specifically, to the involvement of women therein. Politics in eighteenth-century England was not just about parliament and politicians; it also had a social dimension. By expanding our understanding of politics to include social politics, we not only reintegrate women into the political world but we also reveal them to have been legitimate political actors, albeit on a non-parliamentary stage, where they played a vital part in creating and sustaining both a uniquely politicized society and the political elite itself. While specific historical circumstances combined in the eighteenth century to facilitate women's socio-political involvement, social politics is limited neither to women nor to the eighteenth century. It has wider implications for historians of all periods and calls into question the way that we conceptualize politics itself. The relationship between the obstinately nebulous arena of social politics and the traditional arena of high politics is ever-changing, but by trivializing the former we limit our ability to understand the latter.

Early Whig Ideology, Ancient Constitutionalism, and the Reverend Samuel Johnson

1993 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-165 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melinda Zook
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
John Locke ◽  
Samuel Taylor Coleridge ◽  
Samuel Johnson ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
The Political ◽  
Radical Politics ◽  
Political Opposition ◽  
Political Ideas

In 1833, Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote, “I do not know where I could put my hand upon a book containing so much sense with sound constitutional doctrine as this thin folio of Johnson's works.” The “Johnson” to whom Coleridge referred was not the celebrated Doctor Samuel Johnson of the eighteenth century but instead the late seventeenth-century Whig clergyman, the Reverend Samuel Johnson. Reverend Johnson's single volume of complete works impressed Coleridge; he scribbled laudatory remarks throughout the margins of a 1710 edition. Coleridge admired the directness of Johnson's style and his persuasive method of argumentation. Johnson would have appreciated Coleridge's comments. They reflected the way he himself understood his work—as sound constitutional doctrine, plainly put.Yet for all its clarity and consistency, Johnson's political thinking was not always appreciated by England's political elite of the 1680s and 1690s. The implications of Johnson's political ideas—much like those of his contemporary John Locke—were understood as far too revolutionary and destabilizing. However, Johnson's fiery prose and sardonic wit often proved useful to the political opposition: from the Whig exclusionists of the early 1680s, to the supporters of William and Mary in 1688/89, to the radical Whigs and country Tories of the 1690s and early eighteenth century.Johnson's career as a Whig propagandist spanned 1679 to 1700. Among his contemporaries, he was undoubtedly most renowned for his strident anti-Catholicism and for the brutal punishments that he endured for his radical politics.

scholarly journals Modernisation of the Russian state’s political elite in the context of peter the great’s transformations

2021 ◽  
pp. 32-38
Author(s):  
D. A. Filimonov
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Political ◽  
Russian Society ◽  
Long Period ◽  
Peter The Great ◽  
Russian State ◽  
The One

Early eighteenth century was the age of Peter the Great’s transformations, which affected many spheres of life of Russian society, and, in particular, caused the restructuring of the highest political elite. The reforms were, on the one hand, conditioned by the processes of the late seventeenth century, on the other hand, by the specificity of Peter’s absolutism and the long period of warfare. The article analyses the features of Peter’s reforms of the higher political elite. The background to the reforms has been examined, and Peter the Great’s personnel policy, approaches and principles have been analysed. Particular attention has been paid to institutional change, looking at the mechanisms used by Peter the Great in replacing obsolete institutions with new ones. An analysis of the qualitative composition of the elite made it possible to establish a continuity between the political elite of Peter the Great and the aristocracy of the earlier period, with a change in the principles of interaction. The post-reform Russian state is no longer built on the principles of the “servant state”, but on absolutism with a rationalist approach and the principle of “suitability”. 

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document