History & policy database
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 [email protected].
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.
Stereotypes and the state: Britain’s travellers past and present
Introduction One summer in the mid-1990s I was living close to a council estate on the outskirts of Weymouth, when a group of Travellers arrived and parked up on some nearby waste ground. The frenzy of vilification – ranging from shouting abuse and throwing stones at the trailers by local residents to stories of theft, […]
Read MoreHistory and hyperactivity: the Feingold diet
Introduction In 1974 a self-help book written by Ben F. Feingold (1899-1982) entitled Why Your Child is Hyperactive arrived on the shelves of book stores across North America. On the surface, Feingold's book was not particularly exceptional. By the mid 1970s hyperactivity (known today as Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder or ADHD) was the most commonly diagnosed childhood […]
Read MoreDoctors in Whitehall: medical advisers at the 60th anniversary of the NHS
Sally Sheard's History & Policy paper on Doctors in Whitehall was discussed in Society Guardian.
Read MoreRegulating UK supermarkets: an oral-history perspective
Introduction The possible tightening of regulation of supermarket retailing through competition legislation and town planning has become a prominent issue for policy makers and communities. In the past five years, the debate has intensified. The growth of large supermarkets is seen by some to have led to the decay of the high street and has […]
Read MoreSocial housing and tenant participation
Peter Shapely's new History & Policy paper on Social Housing and Tenant Participation shows that tenants must be involved in planning social housing, if the problems of the past are not to be repeated.
Read MoreGenocide: twentieth-century warnings for the twenty-first century
Introduction Raphael Lemkin (1900-1959), a Polish-Jewish jurist, coined the term genocide in his book Axis Rule in Occupied Europe (1944). He believed that each national, religious and racial group had a mission to fulfil and a cultural contribution to make to mankind. He defined genocide as 'the destruction of a nation or of an ethnic […]
Read MoreThe prime minister as world statesman
Introduction 'It is not easy to see how matters could be worsened by a parley at the summit.' Winston Churchill coined the term 'summit' in February 1950, during the dark days of the Cold War, but the practice of summitry is much older. Indeed it might seem to be almost immemorial, rooted in some form […]
Read MoreA necessary complexity: history and public-management reform
Introduction With the resignation of Tony Blair, in June 2007, there has been a spate of commentary on the 'New Labour' legacy. This paper is concerned with a facet of this legacy, New Labour's commitment to 'New Public Management' (henceforth NPM) in the 'reform' of public-sector services. The manifestations of NPM are so ubiquitous that […]
Read MoreHistory and national identity: why they should remain divorced
Introduction Gordon Brown has regularly spoken about the importance of Britishness. In this the former-Chancellor and now Prime Minister has reflected a general concern of the government, which last year ordered a review on how British history could be inserted into the citizenship curriculum in schools so as to strengthen notions of national identity and […]
Read MoreFacing the challenge of climate change: energy efficiency and energy consumption
Paul Warde of the University of East Anglia says that restricting energy use is the only way to tackle climate change. In an analysis of four centuries of energy consumption, he warns that over-reliance on energy efficiency will not curb carbon emissions.
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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.
