Policy Papers
History & Policy papers are written by expert historians, based on peer-reviewed research. They offer historical insights into current policy issues ranging from Afghanistan and Iraq, climate change and internet surveillance to family dynamics, alcohol consumption and health reforms. For historians interested in submitting a paper, please see the editorial guidelines.
Currently, 252 papers are freely searchable by theme, author or keyword, with new papers published regularly. Where possible, we publish papers to coincide with relevant policy developments. If you are a policy maker, civil society practitioner or journalist and would like to contact one of our historians, please contact historyandpolicy@london.ac.uk.
You can download H&P policy papers directly from the Apple iBooks store to your iPhone, iPad or Mac. We also have an Amazon Kindle version to download to your PC for transfer to your Kindle via USB cable. Please consult your Kindle manual for further details.
The return of the gangmaster
Introduction In the summer of 2010, the Farmers' Guardian reported that a Lancashire gangmaster company had had its licence revoked after investigators from the Gangmasters Licensing Authority (GLA) uncovered one of the worst cases of worker abuse in recent history. Whereas thirty points of non-compliance would have been sufficient to revoke the licence, Plus Staff […]
Read More‘The new politics’: parliamentary lobbying, public procurement and political reform
Introduction The establishment of the Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition in the wake of a hung parliament in May 2010 was heralded by both parties' leaders as representing the dawn of a 'new politics'. Most significantly, this 'new politics' called for a renewed focus on transparency and democratic accountability after a major political scandal. But the first […]
Read MoreHistory and the financial crisis
Introduction In 1944, Henry Morgenthau, US Secretary of the Treasury, opened the Bretton Woods conference on post-war monetary relations with a warning to the delegates of 44 countries. His words were based on the bitter experience of the 1930s: 'We saw the worldwide depression of the 1930s. We saw currency disorders develop and spread from […]
Read MoreThe care of older people in Japan: myths and realities of family ‘care’
Introduction Japan currently has the world's highest proportion of older people and the largest number of centenarians. According to the stereotype, Japan's tradition of strong family care for older people means that dedicated and responsible children look after dependent older parents within extended family living arrangements, with very few institutionalised elderly. In reality extensive family […]
Read MoreThe role of government in determining the school history curriculum: lessons from Australia
The new Australian history curriculum Last December, after deliberations that were initiated by a Liberal (though broadly conservative) Government under Prime Minister John Howard late in 2005, Australia published its national history curriculum. It had already been decided that history would be a 'core' subject, alongside English, mathematics and science. In many ways what has […]
Read MoreTrustworthy Economics
The malaise of economics There is a widespread feeling that the science of economics has lost its way. Its current orthodoxy is a belated child of nineteenth century Utilitarianism. It is trapped in a narrow and misleading view of human nature which regards human beings as individuals motivated by material self-interest and making rational choices […]
Read MoreImmigration and the National Health Service: putting history to the forefront
Introduction The current recruitment of junior doctors from India appears incongruous given the Coalition Government's plans to cap non-EU immigrants, apply transitional controls for all new EU members in future, and introduce more stringent controls for highly skilled migrants. Yet present preoccupations about immigration take no account of the impact of such measures on public […]
Read MoreRedrawing the boundaries of British democracy? Census data and the Great Reform Act, 1832-2011
Introduction On 19 May 2010, the new Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, gave a speech in which he promised 'to transform our politics so that the state has far less control over you, and you have far more control over the state'. Warming to his theme, Clegg declared that government was about to embark upon […]
Read MoreWhat Does It Mean To Be British? Belfast and Liverpool’s Experiences of Adaptation and Reaction, 188
Introduction Recently there has been renewed interest amongst political and religious leaders and cultural commentators in the idea of 'Britishness'. This revival initially arose in response to the 7 July 2005 London bombings and has intensified with fears that the global recession would exacerbate ethnic tensions in employment and access to social services. Such fears […]
Read MoreHistorians in post-conflict societies: Northern Ireland after the Troubles
Introduction In his History & Policy paper History and national identity: why they should remain divorced, Stefan Berger examined the relationship between historical research and nationalist politics. He referred to the persistence of nationalism as a mobilising force in politics and he emphasised that even in multicultural societies such as Germany, Belgium, Spain and Britain, […]
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About Us
H&P is based at the Institute of Historical Research, Senate House, University of London.
We are the only project in the UK providing access to an international network of more than 500 historians with a broad range of expertise. H&P offers a range of resources for historians, policy makers and journalists.
