Dr Robert Saunders
Dr Robert Saunders
Non-Stipendiary Lecturer in History
Email: Dr Robert Saunders
Teaching Interests
I teach British and European History from 1815 to the present day, including British History VI (1815-1924) British VII (since 1900), General IV (1815-1914) and General XII (1856-1914). I also teach the First Year papers in Historiography and Approaches to History, together with a First Year optional subject on ‘Theories of the State’ from Aristotle to Marx. For Finals students, I teach a Further Subject in modern political theory, and I share in the teaching of Varieties of History, a compulsory paper that explores theoretical and comparative approaches to history. Recent faculty lectures include ‘Britain and Europe’, ‘the Edwardian Crisis’, ‘Thatcherism’ and ‘The Making of British Democracy’. Outside the history faculty, I teach a paper for the Politics Department on ‘British Politics and Government since 1900’, and I have also taught for the Sutton Trust and the Department of Continuing Education.
Research Interests
My research focuses on political history and the history of ideas, ranging from the Great Reform Act in 1832 to the rise of Thatcherism in the 1970s and ’80s. I have written a book called Democracy and the Vote in British Politics, exploring debates about the franchise from the Chartists through to the Second Reform Act, and I have also written several articles on this topic. More recently, I have written about the relationship between Britain and America in the 19th Century, and the role of the United States in shaping British ideas about democracy. Religious history is another area of interest, focusing on religious responses to the reform crisis in 1830-32. At present I’m working on the intellectual origins of Thatcherism, and have recently completed a collection of essays on Making Thatcher’s Britain, co-edited with Dr Ben Jackson of University College. This will be published by CUP in 2012.
