This article focuses on the brief period (1828-1835) of intense political change in the years immediately before and after the Great Reform Act of 1832 as a critical juncture within the process of British democratization. This change was set in motion by a movement to extend the rights of religious minorities, but soon took on a dynamic of its own and led, quite unexpectedly, to a fundamental break in the constitutional order of the United Kingdom. This reform episode deserves to be classified as a critical juncture for three reasons: First, it put an end to executive control of the legislature through pocket boroughs and placemen and ushered in a culture of national political participation; second, it brought forth a new source of order in politics, a two-party system built around religious cleavages; and finally, it acted as both an impetus and a model for future electoral expansions (1867, 1884, 1918). In the second part of the article, the “reach” of 1832 is explored by examining the relevance of this critical juncture to the triumph and successful defense of democracy in Britain during the interwar period.
Ball, S. ( 1994). Local conservatism and the evolution of party organisation . In A. Seldon & S. Ball (Eds.), Conservative century: The Conservative Party since 1900 (pp. 261-314). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
2.
Ball, S. ( 1995). The Conservative Party in British politics 1902-1951 . London, UK: Longman.
3.
Brock, M. ( 1973). The Great Reform Act. London, UK: Hutchinson University Library.
4.
Butler, D.E. ( 1963). The electoral system in Britain since 1918 (2nd ed.). Oxford, UK: Clarendon.
5.
Butler, D., & Sloman, A. (Eds.). (1975). British political facts 1900-1975 (4th ed.). London, UK: Macmillan.
6.
Capoccia, G., & Kelemen, R.D. ( 2007). The study of critical junctures: Theory, narrative and counterfactuals in historical institutionalism. World Politics , 59, 341-369.
7.
Capoccia, G., & Ziblatt, D. ( 2010). The historical turn in democratization studies: A new research agenda for Europe and beyond. Comparative Political Studies, 43, 931-968.
8.
Christie, I. ( 1956). Economical reform and the "influence of the crown," 1780 . Cambridge Historical Journal, 12, 144-154.
9.
Dahl, R. ( 1971). Polyarchy. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
10.
Ertman, T. ( 2009). Western European party systems and the religious cleavage . In K. van Kersbergen & P. Manow (Eds.), Religion, class coalitions and welfare state regimes (pp. 39-55). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
11.
Finer, S. ( 1952). Patronage and the public service: Jeffersonian bureaucracy and theBritish tradition. Public Administration, 30, 329-360.
12.
Gould, A. ( 1999). Origins of liberal dominance: State, church and party in nineteenth century Europe. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
13.
Harling, P. ( 1996). The waning of "Old Corruption": The politics of economical reform in Britain, 1779-1846. Oxford, UK: Clarendon.
14.
Harrison, B. ( 1996). The transformation of British politics 1860-1995. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
15.
Havighurst, A. ( 1979). British politics in transition. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
16.
Hilton, B. ( 1988). The age of atonement: The Influence of evangelicalism on social and economic thought, 1795-1865. Oxford, UK: Clarendon.
17.
Hilton, B. ( 2006). A mad, bad and dangerous people? England 1783-1846. Oxford, UK: Clarendon.
18.
Hoppit, J. ( 2000). A land of liberty? England 1689-1727. Oxford, UK: Clarendon.
19.
Jarvis, D. ( 1997). The shaping of conservative hegemony, 1918-1939. In J. Lawrence & M. Taylor (Eds.), Party, state and society. Electoral behaviour in Britain since 1820 (pp. 131-152). Aldershot, UK: Scolar Press.
20.
Kalyvas, S. ( 1996). The rise of Christian Democracy in Europe. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
21.
Langford, P. ( 1989). A polite and commercial people: England 1727-1783. Oxford, UK: Clarendon.
22.
McKibbin, R. ( 1990). Class and the conventional wisdom: The Conservative Party and the "public" in interwar Britain. In R. McKibbin (Ed.), The ideologies of class. Social relations in Britain 1880-1950 (pp. 259-302). Oxford, UK: Clarendon.
23.
Nossiter, T.J. ( 1970). Aspects of electoral behavior in English constituencies, 1832-1868. In E. Allardt & S. Rokkan (Eds.), Mass politics: Studies in political sociology (pp. 160-283). New York, NY: Free Press.
24.
Parry, J. ( 1986). Democracy and religion: Gladstone and the Liberal Party 1867-1875. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
25.
Parry, J. ( 1993). The rise and fall of liberal government in Victorian Britain. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
26.
Phillips, G. ( 1992). The rise of the Labour Party 1893-1931. London, UK: Routledge.
27.
Phillips, J. ( 1992). The Great Reform Bill in the boroughs: English electoral behaviour 1818-1841. Oxford, UK: Clarendon.
28.
Pierson, P. ( 2004). Politics in time. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
29.
Pugh, M. ( 1982). The making of modern British politics, 1867-1939. Oxford, UK: Basil Blackwell.
30.
Pugh, M. ( 1985). The Tories and the people, 1880-1935. Oxford, UK: Basil Blackwell.
31.
Ramsden, J. ( 1978). The age of Balfour and Baldwin 1902-1940. London, UK: Longman.
32.
Rubinstein, W.D. ( 1983). The end of "Old Corruption" in Britain 1780-1860. Past and Present, 101, 55-86.
33.
Rupp, G. ( 1986). Religion in England 1688-1791. Oxford , UK: Clarendon.
34.
Tanner, D. ( 1990). Political change and the Labour Party 1900-1918. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
35.
Tanner, D. ( 1997). Class voting and radical politics: The Liberal and Labour Parties, 1910-1931. In J. Lawrence & M. Taylor (Eds.), Party, state and society. Electoral behaviour in Britain since 1820 (pp. 106-130). Aldershot, UK: Scolar Press.
36.
Taylor, A.J.P. ( 1967). English history 1914-1945. Oxford , UK: Oxford University Press.
37.
Thurlow, R. ( 1987). Fascism in Britain. A history, 1918-1985. Oxford, UK: Basil Blackwell.
