One of the very first things you will learn in History at undergraduate level is that there are many different sub-disciplines within the discipline of analysing History, and you will at some point need to focus and zoom in to certain topics in order to have a better argument. Therefore I will explain to you the different categories of historiography in multiple posts.
In this post, I will be focusing on Political History. So what actually is political history, what are some key historians within this sub-discipline, and what are the criticisms associated with it?
Topics traditionally associated with political history:
- governance: how societies are organised across time and place: this includes focusing on ‘great men’ and occasionally ‘great women’ (e.g. monarchs); local regional, national and international governance (e.g. UN); their policies; and parties, movements and elections
- broader themes: this includes ‘power’ and how it is distributed; ‘top down’ governance and ‘bottom up’ resistance; how political structures shape societies; moments of crisis; and political symbols, rituals and cultures
How political history is embedded in our worldview:
- the way we think about the world is shaped by politics: a world of nation states with their own flags, anthems, national birds etc; institutions as central to national identities; leaders/personalities
- and the way we think about time (periodisation): governments (elections, ‘post 1997’); reigns (the ‘Victorian era’); dynasties (‘Qing dynasty China’, 1644-1912)
Traditional Political Historians:
Herodotus:
- born in Greek city of Halicarnassus in the Persian Empire, now Bodrum, Turkey
- author of the Historia - an account of the Greco-Persian wars of 499-449 BC - focused on the actions of kings and other leaders, as well as major battles
- later called the ‘Father of History’ because the Historia focused on the actions of men rather than Gods or myths; travelled widely to verify his account; relatively objective; and sought to contextualise the actions of his protagonists by explaining the wider socio-economic and cultural background
Thucydides:
- Athenian historian and author of the History of the Peloponnesian War
- a generation younger than Herodotus and possessed a very different approach - Thucydides presented a seamless narrative where as Herodotus often presented multiple, conflicting accounts
- often credited as being the first ‘realistic’ and ‘scientific’ historian due to his real-world focus on the actions of governments and statesmen, and on the consequences of their decisions
- his work was rediscovered in the Renaissance and influenced political pragmatism; appealed to German realists; and his work still appeals to political scientists today.
‘Modern’ Political Historians:
Leopold von Ranke:
- the historian most often cited as the ‘father’ of modern history through his work and teaching
- ‘Rankean history’ is identified with being: ‘objective’ and questioning tradition; based on research using primary materials into specific periods and events; valuing empirical conclusions above interpretations; history ‘as it really was’; influential in shaping a style of history popular
- criticisms include: reflects a conservative mid 19th century Prussian view of the world and its history; firmly political; little attention was paid to economic or social factors, or social change from below; European countries as the drivers of progress; religious dimension
There are 3 crises of political history:
Epistemological crisis A: relativism:
- political history is often seen as being more grounded in ‘fact’ however if we adopt a relativist view we begin to question what was really important and if we can trust established ‘facts’
- this conflicts with the idea that political history is more objective, reliable and significant than other approaches due to its strong empirical (factual) basis
Epistemological crisis B: competing theories of historical development:
- other historians have conflicting theories such as Karl Marx who suggests that it was the relationship between people and the means of production defined the character of human society and focuses on unseen economic and social forces
- this challenges the long held view of world history as being driven by the actions of ‘great men’ and politics
A cultural crisis: social change and its impact on history production:
- the world has changed dramatically since the 1960s: social justice movements; decolonisation and the end of empires; broader questioning of political authority, distrust of politicians and rise of anti-war sentiment
- this has radically diversed the profile of university staff and students