Center for the History of British Political Thought programs
This article is the archive of past programs sponsored by the Folger Institute's Center for the History of British Political Thought.
1984-present
- A Spring Semester Seminar directed by Gordon Schochet, 1984.
Political Thought in the Henrician Age, 1500–1550.
- A Fall Semester Seminar directed by John Guy with guest lecturers Geoffrey Elton, Alistair Fox, Richard Marius, Arthur J. Slavin, and David Starkey, 1984.
Political Thought in the Elizabethan Age, 1558–1603.
- A Spring Semester Seminar directed by Donald R. Kelley with guest lecturers Charles Gray, J.H. Hexter, Louis Knafla, Brian Levack, and Brian Tierney, 1985.
Political Thought in Early Modern England, 1600–1660.
- A Fall Semester Seminar directed by William Lamont with guest lecturers Robin Clifton, Partick Collinson, Anthony Fletcher, John Morrill, Linda Levy Peck, Barbara Taft, and Austin Woolrych, 1985.
Political Thought in the Later Stuart Age, 1649–1702.
- A Spring Semester Seminar directed by Howard A. Nenner with guest lecturers Richard Ashcroft, Henry Horwitz, Mark Kishlansky, Annabel Patterson, J.G.A. Pocock, Gordon J. Schochet, and Lois G. Schwoerer, 1986.
Politics and Politeness: British Political Thought in the Age of Walpole.
- A Fall Semester Seminar directed by N.T. Phillipson with guest speakers including Linda Colley, Mark Goldie, J.A.W. Gunn, Istvan Hont, Thomas Horne, Simon Varey, and John Yolton, 1986.
Political Thought in the English-Speaking Atlantic.
- A Spring Semester Seminar directed by J.G.A. Pocock with guest lecturers J.H. Burns, Istvan Hont, J.R. Pole, and R.K. Webb, 1987.
Property, Power, and Politics.
- A Fall Semester Seminar directed by Arthur Slavin, 1987.
Kings, Courtiers, and Judges: Political Discourse in Early Stuart England.
- A Spring Semester Seminar directed by Linda Levy Peck, 1988.
The Glorious Revolution.
- A Spring Semester Seminar directed by Lois Schwoerer, 1989.
Political Thought in the English Speaking World, 1485–1793.
- A Year-Long Seminar directed by J.G.A. Pocock, Lois Schwoerer, and Gordon Schochet, 1989-1990.
Preachers, Petitioners, and Prophets.
- A Late-Spring Semester Seminar directed by Esther Cope, 1990.
England's Wars of Religion, 1625–1649.
- A Spring Conference directed by John Morrill, 1990.
Scots and Britons: Scottish Political thought and the Union of 1603.
- A Fall Semester Seminar directed by Roger A. Mason, 1990.
Union, State, and Empire: The Political Identities of Britain, 1688–1750.
- A Late-Spring Semester Seminar directed by John Robertson, 1991.
Partisan Culture in an Age of Revolution: England, 1649–1689.
- A Fall Semester Seminar directed by Derek Hirst and Steven Zwicker, 1991.
Empire, Confederation, and Republic: From Atlantic Dominion to American Union.
- A Spring Semester Seminar directed by J.G.A. Pocock, 1992.
English Parliamentary Culture to 1689.
- A Late-Spring Workshop directed by John Guy and Linda Levy Peck, 1992.
The Politics of the Ancient Constitution: British Political Thought in the Early Seventeenth Century.
- A Fall Semester Seminar directed by Glen Burgess, 1992.
Women, Politics, and Political Thought in Tudor and Stuart England.
- A Fall Semester Seminar directed by Barbara J. Harris, 1993.
"A Presse Full of Pamphlets:" Books as Events, 1632–1660.
- A Fall Semester Seminar directed by Michael Mendle with visiting speakers Phyllis Mack and Steven Zwicker, 1994.
Political Women/Political Writings: Early Modern Britain in a European Context.
- A Spring Conference directed by Hilda Smith, 1995.
Text and Conquest: Political Ideology in Ireland, 1570–1630.
- A Fall Semester Seminar directed by Hiram Morgan with visiting lecturers Brendan Bradshaw, Ciaran Brady, Nicholas Canny and Colm Lennon, 1995.
From Darcy to Molyneux: Political Thought in Seventeenth-Century Ireland.
- A Late-Spring Seminar directed by Jane Ohlmeyer with visiting speakers David Armitage, Aidan Clarke, Bernadette Cunningham, Raymond Gillespie, Patrick Kelly, Allan Macinnes, Breandan O Buachalla, and Tadhg O hAnnrachain, 1997.
- A Fall Conference directed by Michael Mendle, 1997.
Irish Political Thought in the Eighteenth Century.
- A Late-Spring Seminar directed by S. J. Connolly with visiting lecturers R.R. Eccleshall, David Hayton, James Kelly, Patrick Kelly, and Ian Montgomery, 1998.
The Mental World of Stuart Catholicism.
- A Fall Semester Seminar directed by Patricia Brückmann with visiting faculty Eamon Duffy, John Henry, Caroline Hibbard, Anthony Milton, Tadhg O hAnnrachain, and Steven Zwicker, 1998.
- A Spring Symposium, 2000.
Defining the Court's Political Thought.
- A Fall Semester Seminar directed by R. Malcolm Smuts with visiting faculty Lawrence M. Bryant, Pauline Croft, Lori Anne Ferrell, Richard C. McCoy, and Linda Levy Peck, 2000.
The Foundations of Modern International Thought, 1494–1713.
- A Late-Spring Semester Seminar directed by David Armitage, 2002.
- A Spring Semester Seminar directed by J.G.A. Pocock, Linda Levy Peck, Gordon J. Schochet, 2003.
Networks and Practices of Political Exchange: Britain and Europe, 1651–1748.
- A Fall Symposium, 2004.
British Political Thought in History, Literature, and Theory.
- A Spring Conference, 2005.
Religion, Revolution, Republicanism, and John Locke.
- A Fall Semester Seminar directed by John Marshall, 2005.
- A Late-Spring Seminar directed by Conal Condren, 2007.
British Political Thought in an Age of Globalization, c. 1750-1800.
- A Spring Symposium, 2008.
"Guns and Women in Early Modern England"
- Lois G. Schwoerer (The George Washington University)
- Barbara Bradfield Taft Memorial Lecture on 2 December 2008.
Changing Conceptions of Property.
- A Late Spring Seminar directed by Gordon J. Schochet and J.G.A. Pocock, 2009.
"William Walwyn's 'Darling': The Happy Life of an Aging Former Radical"
- Derek Hirst (Washington University in St. Louis)
- Barbara Bradfield Taft Memorial Lecture on 19 November 2009.
India in British Political Thought.
- A Fall Semester Seminar directed by Robert Travers, 2009.
What Was British Political Thought in Sixteenth-Century England?
- A Spring Symposium, 2011.
Thinking the Revolution: American Political Thought, 1763-1789.
- A Late Spring Seminar directed by Eric Nelson, 2012.
Law as Politics in England and the Empire, ca. 1600-1830.
- A Spring Semester Seminar directed by Paul Halliday, 2013.
Where Was British Political Thought in England, c. 1600-1642?
- A Fall Symposium, 2013.
Debating Capitalism: Early Modern Political Economies
- A Spring Semester Seminar directed by Julia Rudolph and Carl Wennerlind, 2015.
More’s Utopia: Humanist Literature and Political Thought
- A Spring Semester Seminar directed by Cathy Curtis, 2016.
Political Thought in Times of Crisis, 1640-1660
- A Fall Symposium, 2016,
Conjugality and Early Modern Political Thought
- A Fall Semester Seminar directed by Sharon Achinstein, 2017.
The Corporation in Early Modern Political Thought
- A Spring Semester Seminar directed by Philip Stern, 2018.
Political Personhood in the Early Modern British World before 1800
- A Fall Symposium directed by Sharon Achinstein, David Armitage, Julia Rudolph, and Nigel Smith, 2019.
"Race, Philosophy, and Political Thought"
A Critical Race Conversation moderated by Sharon Achinstein, joined by Charles W. Mills, Jennifer L. Morgan, and Robert Bernasconi.