Reappraising Walter Bagehot's Liberalism

Discussion, Public Opinion, and the Meaning of Parliamentary Government

Datos Bibliográficos

ID11348142
AutoresWilliam Selinger (0000-0001-8840-9721, Harvard University, autor de correspondencia), Greg Conti (Harvard University)
Año2015
Volumen41
Número2
Páginas264-291
Fecha de publicación2015-02-17
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaHistory of European Ideas (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0191-6599 • E-ISSN: 1873-541X
EditorialInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/01916599.2014.926105
OpenAlexW1984329198
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas7

This article offers a novel and comprehensive account of Walter Bagehot's political thought. It ties together an interpretation of Bagehot's liberal commitment to norms of discussion and deliberation, with an analysis of Bagehot's extensive arguments about the institutions of representative government. We show how Bagehot's opposition to American-style presidentialism, to parliamentary democracy, and to proportional representation were profoundly shaped by his conceptions of government by discussion, and the rule of public opinion. Bagehot's criticisms of English parliamentarianism, both of its pre-1832 and post-1832 varieties were also motivated by those principles, as was his own proposal for parliamentary reform. By examining the whole range of Bagehot's writings on representative government (not merely his preference for parliamentarianism over presidentialism) and by connecting his institutional recommendations to his liberal principles, we are also able to better clarify Bagehot's position in Victorian political thought. The article concludes with a discussion of the debate leading up to the Second Reform Act, in which we elucidate Bagehot's disagreements with other prominent exponents of liberalism including John Stuart Mill, the “university liberals,” and Robert Lowe

Classical liberalism · Democracy · Liberalism · Opposition (politics · Political science · Politics · Presidential system · American Constitutional Law and Politics · Historical Economic and Social Studies · Law · Political Theory and Influence