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Home 2012-2013 Undergraduate College Catalog Course Offerings Castle Scholars Courses CSCH 3010: Britain Past and Present (3 cr.)

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CSCH 3010: Britain Past and Present (3 cr.)

Walter Bagehot, the great nineteenth-century British constitutional scholar, literary critic, and editor of The Economist, once said that "the practical choice of first-rate nations is between two forms of government by discussion – the presidential and the parliamentary." America’s government is presidential; Britain’s is parliamentary. For all the important differences between these two types of regime, however, there are also major similarities between them. Moreover, the British system of common law and representative government directly influenced our own. A look at British law and government as it evolved through Britain’s unique and fascinating history can thus shed much light on our own constitutional government by discussion.

It is not only the student of American law and politics who can benefit from a study of Britain, however. Britain has produced some of the greatest literature the world has ever seen, from Chaucer and Shakespeare to the Romantic poets and Sherlock Holmes. Britain was also for many centuries a great imperial power, the center of a vast world empire on which "the sun never set." Most of the paradoxes of the world today – both the triumphs and the tragedies – can in some measure be attributed to decisions made by British statesmen. A study of Britain and its development can thus be of immense value to the student of modern international relations, as well as to students of politics, law, and the humanities.

After a brief examination of the current British governmental and legal system and how it compares to our own, this honors seminar will survey the historical development of British government and culture – from Roman and Anglo-Saxon times, through the Middle Ages, through the revolutionary Tudor and Stuart periods, and through the eighteenth century, Victorian, and modern eras. Emphasis will be placed on political and legal (mainly constitutional) development, but considerable attention will also be given to cultural history, especially literature. (Spring 2013)

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