IGNOU HISTORY NOTES : History Of Modern Europe (Mid 18th to 20th Centuries)- POLITICAL TRANSITION IN BRITAIN: (1780-1850)

IGNOU HISTORY Study Notes for IAS, UPSC Exams

History Of Modern Europe Mid 18th to Mid 20th Centuries

POLITICAL TRANSITION IN BRITAIN: (1780-1850)

Structure

2.0 Objectives
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Nature of British Polity
2.3 Nature of Political Institutions
2.4 Notion of Liberty
2.5 Demand for Reforms
2.6 Response of the State
2.7 Reform Act of 1832
2.8 The State Towards Modernisation
2.8.1 Constitutional Reforms
2.8.2 Administrative Restructuring
2.8.3 Market Refoms
2.8 4 Towards a Welfare State
2.9 Working Class Movement
2.10 Chartist Movement
2.11 Let Us Sum Up
2.12 Keywords
2.13 Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises

2.0 OBJECTIVES

After studying this Unit you should be able to:

understand the nature of British polity and various political institutions,
learn about the concept of liberty and the background for the growing demands for reforms,
explain the initiative taken by the state to meet the people's demands, and
understand the dynamics of the working class movements and its consequences.

2.1 INTRODUCTION

'The study of modem Britain has been of interest to students of history for a variety of reasons.
You may be aware that roughly between 1780 and 1850, Great Britain--comprised of England,
Wales and Scotland went through a sweeping transformation brought about by the Industrial
Revolution. This momentous change not only revolutionised manufacturing by introducing the
factory system but also had long-lasting effects on the rest of the world.
By taking a lead in this process, Britain emerged as the greatest imperial power as it exploited its
captive markets and resources to stay ahead in the race for industrialisation until the beginning of
the twentieth century. We shall talk more about this in Block-3, Unit-10.
The same years interestingly saw the crystallisation of a 'liberal polity' in Britain which has
served as a model for a number of capitalist states till today. Such a polity guarantees to its
citizens rights to free speech, assembly, religious belief, the right to dissent and to equal
treatment before the law. But it also protects the inequalities based on property and the
wastefulness of the 'free' market associated with artificial demands generated by profit
inaximising entrepreneurs. In this Unit, we shall closely examine the emergence of such a state
in Britain between late eighteenth and mid nineteenth centuries.
But the same period in British history is also memorable for the growth of a new kind of politics
centred on parliamentary elections and electoral competition between organised parties as well
as struggles for a democratic order granting equal say to all in governance. While the rising
middle classes were particularly concerned about the former, the industrial working class played
an inlpoi-tant role in the development of the latter. In the following pages, we shall try to
understand the peculiar way in which these political traditions competed in Britain and their
wider implications for its modem polity.