The United Kingdom at present appears to be both markedly unstable and acutely divided. Yet, for several centuries in the past, it enjoyed an international reputation and nurtured a powerful domestic image of itself as an unusually stable state. In this lecture, Linda Colley explores some of the reasons for these apparent shifts over time in the light of a famous work of history, J.H. Plumb’s The Growth of Political Stability in England (1967). She also discusses the nature and gravity of Britain’s current woes, and suggests how they might usefully be approached, understood and addressed.

The Shelby M.C.Davis 1958 Professor of History at Princeton University, Linda Colley was born in the UK, and is a Fellow of the British Academy. She is the author of seven books and holds seven honorary degrees. Her latest work, The Gun, the Ship and the Pen: Warfare, Constitutions and the Making of the Modern World came out in 2021.

Places in the Senatssaal are limited. Please register at: events.gbz@hu-berlin.de