British Political Science in the Inter-War Years: The Emergence of the Founding Fathers

Abstract

In the inter-war years a number of scholars studied and wrote about British politics in a way that marks them out as founding fathers of the discipline. The writers were academics, confined to a few universities, and did not regard themselves as political scientists. The article analyses two outlooks—collectivism and pluralism—which emerged to challenge the Westminster model. Many present features of a ‘British approach’ are evident in the work and the long-term impact on the discipline is assessed.