Languages of Transnational Conservatism: The Emergence of “Left” and “Right” in Britain

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Abstract

Today, the terms ‘left’ and ‘right’ wing are used without much thought to their specific origins in the French National Assembly; they are terms we employ indiscriminately and transnationally in order to link and describe politicians and political ideas from around the globe. Yet this was not always the case. This chapter examines the growth of the term—and its usages—from the 1880s in English-language texts, with a focus on Britain. It builds on existing scholarship focused on the national popular literature and intellectual culture of British Conservatism to establish how and for was reasons it became increasingly common across the political spectrum to utilise the terminology of left and right. It argues that the turn of the twentieth century was a moment in which political identities in Britain were subtly opening out, as older traditions were reframed in the context of revolution—perceived and real; historical and contemporary and that this has had a lasting impact in the shaping of transnational languages of conservatism. This chapter therefore demonstrates that an important component of the intellectual history of conservatism involves taking names and terms seriously.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationCosmopolitan Conservatisms
Subtitle of host publicationCountering Revolution in Transnational Networks, Ideas and Movements (c.1750-1930)
EditorsMatthijs Lok, Friedemann Pestel, Juliette Reboul
Place of PublicationLeiden
PublisherBrill
Chapter16
Pages354–374
Number of pages21
ISBN (Electronic)9789004446731
ISBN (Print)9789004445239
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 29 Apr 2021

Publication series

NameStudies in the History of Political Thought
Volume16

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