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POWER, PERSONALITY AND PERSUASION:
THE IMPACT OF THE INDIVIDUAL ON BRITISH POLITICS SINCE 1867
A CONFERENCE, University of Manchester (UK), June 26, 2002*
Call for Papers
From Gladstone to Lloyd George, from Disraeli to Iain Duncan-Smith
via Winston Churchill, from Keir Hardie to Tony Blair, from Joseph
Chamberlain to Oswald Mosley, from Harry Pollitt to Tony Benn, and
from the Pankhursts to Margaret Thatcher, personality has played a key
role in the iconography and historiography of modern British politics.
The tendency of contemporary political propaganda and reportage to
focus on individual political figures, matched by the continued
popularity today of political biography as an historical genre, has
given the role of personality an assumed importance in mainstream
historical narratives. But do individuals really make a difference,
and, if so, how? In what ways have politicians constructed their own
personalities (or had them constructed for them) on the platform, in
the media, through scandal, and during the processes of political
action? Is it possible to arrive at an account of the role of
personality in politics which does not merely descend into 'the lives
of great men and women'?
We welcome proposals from the disciplines of political and cultural
history, political science, sociology, media studies and gender
studies, covering mainstream and fringe parties in Britain, as well as
politicians outside the traditional party structure. We invite
conference participants to reassess the biographical narratives of
political figures and to apply fresh theoretical and methodological
perspectives to the study of the individual in politics. Papers should
consider some of the following themes: How politicians have shaped
their images, or how such images have been ntegrated into political
and cultural discourse Historical events where the impact of
personality proved decisive The future of biography The
gendering of political personality and the influence of popular
discourses of sexuality on perceptions of political leaders
Historical and contemporary party media strategies and the
construction of 'leadership'
This conference has been made possible by a grant from the
University of Manchester.
We would also like to remind conference participants that a visit to
Manchester would provide an opportunity to make use of the excellent
research resources in 19th and 20th century political history held at
the John Rylands Library, the National Museum of Labour History, the
Salford Working-Class Movements Library, and an array of local record
offices in the North West.
Please email or post proposals by 28 February 2002 to:
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