Diverging Paths? Conservatism in Britain and West Germany from the 1960s to the 1980s
Diverging Paths? Conservatism in Britain and West Germany from the 1960s to the 1980s
London
26-28 January 2012
Venue: London, German Historical Institute London, 17 Bloomsbury Square, London WC1A 2NJ
Historians agree that the decades from the 1960s to the 1980s were marked by fundamental change which profoundly challenged Conservative worldviews and self-understandings all over the ‘West’. At the same time Conservatives were active players in influencing the direction taken by economic, social, political and cultural change. In the 1980s, both in Britain and in the Federal Republic of Germany, Conservative led governments dominated the decade politically. Whereas ‘Thatcherism’ shaped the country in Britain, in West Germany the post-war model of social market economy continued to provide the rationale of CDU/CSU policies. So far, research has accentuated these diverging paths, emphasizing the impact of neo-liberal thought in Britain. However, there is a surprising lack of broader historical and comparative studies, and now a new interest in Conservatism in this period is beginning to flourish in both countries. Informed by an analytical understanding of ‘conservatism’, the workshop will bring together this new research and open up comparative perspectives, both to sharpen national specifics and to test the prevailing interpretation by focusing on entanglements, interactions, and similar patterns of developm -ent.
The workshop is open to historians, political scientists etc. working in the field; please contact Martina Steber if you are interested in attending.
Thursday, 26 January
2pm – Welcome and Introduction
2.30-7pm – Panel I: Parties
Chair: Peter Catterall (London)
- Daniel Schmidt (Münster): Turn Left or Turn Right? Political Strategies of the Oppositional CDU 1969-1982
- Silke Mende (Tübingen): Green Conservatism? The Formation of the West-German Green Party in the 1970s – Conservative Networks and Ideas
- Patrick Deinzer (Berlin): Conservative Parties in the 1970s: Crises, Conflict and Change. A Comparison between the CDU and the Conservative Party
- Neil Fleming (Worcester): The Monday Club: Diehard Conservatism and British National Renewal
- Robert Saunders (Oxford): Thatcherism and the 1970s
Friday, 27 January
9am-1pm – Panel II: Political Languages of Conservatism
Chair: Martin Geyer (Munich)
- Ben Jackson (Oxford): The Making of Thatcherism: British Conservatism and British Neo-Liberalism
- Peter Hoeres (Gießen): “Wende”-Metaphorics in the Seventieths and Eighties
- Matthew Francis (Nottingham): Property-Owning Democracies? Visions of Ownership in German and British Conservatism
- Achim Saupe (Potsdam): ‘Law and order’ – a conservative buzzword? The Political Languages of ‘Order’ and ‘Security’ in Britain and West Germany (1960-1990)
- Martina Steber (London): Fighting over ‘industrial relations’ – Conservative concepts, semantic nets, and German-British transfers
2-6pm – Panel III: Political Cultures of Conservatism
Chair: Frank Bösch (Potsdam)
- Thomas Großbölting (Münster): Conservatism and Religion in West Germany [title tbc]
- Matthew Grimley (Oxford): Conservatism and Anti-Permissiveness in 1970s Britain
- Peter Itzen (Freiburg): Changing Allegiances: The Church of England and the Political Establishment in Modern Britain (1950-1970)
- Lawrence Black (Durham): Tories & Hunters: Swinton College and the Landscapes of Modern Conservatism
- Emily Robinson (Nottingham): Whigs and Tories: Conservative Attitudes to History and Heritage in the 1980s
Saturday, 28 January
9am-1pm – Panel IV: Conservatism and 1968
Chair: Richard Vinen (London)
- Anna von der Goltz (Washington): Turning Right in the Wake of 1968? Conservative Mobilisation at German Universities
- Nikolai Wehrs (Potsdam): The Professors’ Movement. Conservative scholars’ responses to ‘1968’ in West Germany
- Till van Rahden (Montréal): Families beyond Patriarchy: Visions of Gender Equality and Child Rearing among German Catholics in an Age of Revolution
- Camilla Schofield (Norwich): Powellism and Thatcherism: 1968 and the Nation under Siege
- Simon Ball (Glasgow): The End of the Pre-War Generation: The British Conservatives and 1968
1-1.30pm – Final Discussion
Contact:
Dr. Martina Steber
German Historical Institute London, 17 Bloomsbury Square, London WC1A
2NJ
0044 207 309 2015
Homepage: http://www.ghil.ac.uk/events_and_conferences/conferences_and_workshops/2012/diverging_paths.html
OpenEdition vous propose de citer ce billet de la manière suivante :
Emilia Robin (18 janvier 2012). Diverging Paths? Conservatism in Britain and West Germany from the 1960s to the 1980s. Faire l'histoire de la guerre froide. Consulté le 11 mai 2025 à l’adresse https://doi.org/10.58079/pdh0