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British Liberal Political Studies Group

Over the past few decades the Liberal Democrats have expanded greatly as a political party across Great Britain. In Scotland and Wales they have formed part of the government and at Westminster, local government and in the European parliament they have become a serious political force. As the Liberal Democrats have risen as a political party so academic interest in both the contemporary party and its Liberal and SDP predecessors has increased. The British Liberal Political Studies Group therefore has been set up to aid co-ordinate and encourage academic study and development into matters of British Liberal Politics both contemporary and historical study. It is a sub group of the Political Studies Association and is financed mainly directly from them by an annual grant.
The following section tells you something about the group and its operations.

Aims The British Liberal Political Studies Group aims to cover the following areas:

1. Political campaigning both in an historical and contemporary context connected with the British Liberal/ Liberal Democrats and SDP parties
2. Policy development and creation with the British Liberal/ Liberal Democrats and SDP parties
3. The history of the British Liberal/ Liberal Democrats and SDP parties
4. The history Liberal political groups associated with British Liberal politics
5. Important historical events
6. Analysis of leadership within the British Liberal/ Liberal Democrats and SDP parties
7. The study of the Liberal and Liberal Democrat state and regional parties in both an historical and contemporary context
8. The study of the British Liberal party both in opposition and in government
9. The study of British Liberal/ Liberal Democrats and SDP parties past and predicted election results, opinion polling and party development at local, regional, national and European level
10. An examination of the interrelationship between British Liberal politics and related political parties outside of the United Kingdom

Links

The British Liberal Political Studies Group enjoys the support of, and interacts with, the Liberal Democrat History Group: email journal@liberalhistory.org.uk. Together they have helped organize conferences.

Groups Activities

1. Academic Panels - organises 1-2 panels on the topic of The British Liberal Political Studies Group at the Annual Political Studies Association Conference, and other occasional day conferences at various venues. The latest one's have been at Manchester and Strathclyde universities
2. To hold an Bi-Annual Conference of the Specialist Group. The last conference was at the London School of Economics and Political Science in 2009 and the next one is planned for 25th March 2011 and is once more at the London School of Economics and Political Science.
3. It has held panels at appropriate Liberal Democrat state and federal conferences
4. To encourage contribute towards the Liberal History Journal
5. Annual Report. Preparation of the Annual Report of the Specialist Group submitted to the PSA
6. Operates occasional email discussion groups on topical issues

Convenor and membership registration:

There is now a small membership fee to join the group in accordance with PSA regulations. Please contact the convenor for latest details.

March 2011 conference

The history of coalitions and the reflections on the current Con-Lib coalition conference 25/26 March 2011

The British Political Liberal Studies Group and Conservatives and Conservatism Group conference will be holding a joint conference on Friday 25th March 2011, at the London School of Economics. This conference will be followed on the Saturday by a further conference with the Liberal Democrat History Group and LSE archives on The History of Coalitions.

Friday's conference will cover the current Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition from a variety of angles. It will consist of the work of many of those political scientists and historians who have developed their work on the subject of coalitions. There will also be a round table discussion with Conservative and Liberal Democrat politicians examining successes and failures of the coalition from their perspective.

Saturday's conference will also be held at the London School of Economics. It is being organised by the Archives Division of the London School of Economic, the British Liberal Political Studies Group and the Journal of Liberal History. It will examine the Liberal experience of coalitions in 19th and 20th century British history.

The price of attending the Friday conference will be around �45, including lunch and refreshments (the price is slightly cheaper for postgraduate students). If you wish to attend the whole weekend the price will be �60. The Saturday's conference does not include lunch.

Please email Professor Russell Deacon (rdeacon@uwic.ac.uk) or Professor Tim Bale (t.p.bale@sussex.ac.uk) for a full programme of those speaking at the conference and a booking form. You should also note that due to limited spaces available bookings should be made early.