Projects per year
Personal profile
Research interests
Hugh Pemberton was Professor of Contemporary British History at the University of Bristol. Recently retired but still actively researching and writing, he is an expert on the history of of modern Britain, and particularly of British politics, from the Second World War to the very contemporary.
His research focuses principally on UK economic and social policy (both together in the case of his interest in British pensions policy); public administration and governance; party politics; and the politics of change. His work engages with and seeks empirically to test political science theories of historical institutionalism for he has a particular interest in the means by which radical policy change occurs (and why it sometimes doesn't), in why such change sometimes turns out to be temporary despite intentions to the contrary, and in why it is that changes that might seem apparently superficial sometimes turn out have enduring consequences.
He is currently pursuing twoparallel research projects:
- The implementation of neoliberalism in the UK, explored through the Thatcher governments' reform of pensions (as part of the AHRC-funded Thatcher's Pension Reforms project).
- The history of Civil Service reform in the Thatcher and John Major eras (research funded by the Cabinet Office as part of an Official History of the Civil Service, published in 2020, but also still ongoing).
Prof. Pemberton is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and remains Emeritus Professor of Contemporary British History at the University of Bristol.
Contact details
Email: mail@hughpemberton.org.uk Twitter: @hugh_pemberton
Personal website: hughpemberton.org.uk
Research interests
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Research interests (key words)
Modern and Contemporary British history; British political history; economic policy history; industrial policy and industrial strategy; UK pensions history; pensions policy; pensions crisis; Labour party history; Conservative party history; Thatcher and Thatcherism; ideas and policy; history of government; history of public administration; governance; historical institutionalism; policy and history; history and politics.
Structured keywords and research groupings
- PolicyBristolBusinessAndEconomicPolicy
- PolicyBristolGovernanceAndPublicServices
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- 1 Similar Profiles
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TPR: The Thatcherite pension reforms
Davies, A. R., Freeman, J., Gould, T. J., Middleton, R. A. H. & Freeman, J.
Arts and Humanities Research Council
1/09/14 → 30/11/21
Project: Research
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GOVERNANCE AND THE MARKET: UK PENSIONS, 1946-2001
Economic and Social Research Council
1/11/01 → 1/11/02
Project: Research
Research output
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WASPI's is (mostly) a campaign for inequality
Pemberton, H., 11 Aug 2017, In: Political Quarterly. 88, 3, p. 510-516 7 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal) › peer-review
Open AccessFile4 Citations (Scopus)825 Downloads (Pure) -
UK pensions: the making and breaking of a welfare consensus
Pemberton, H., Feb 2018, The state of welfare: comparative studies of the welfare state at the end of the long boom, 1965–1980. Eklund, E., Oppenheimer, M. & Scott, J. (eds.). Oxford: Peter Lang International Academic Publishers, p. 17-38 22 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter in a book
Open Access1 Citation (Scopus)
Activities
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joint seminar of the Chantiers d'histoire administrative" research group at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) and the British Conservatism research group at Paris Diderot University
Hugh Pemberton (Keynote/plenary speaker)
27 Jan 2017Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Participation in workshop, seminar, course
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GW4 Modern British Politics and History Seminar
Hugh Pemberton (Invited speaker)
16 Nov 2016Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Participation in workshop, seminar, course
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The battle for Labour: MPs must surrender to Corbyn or leave
Hugh Pemberton (Contributor)
18 Aug 2016Activity: Other activity types › Media coverage or participation
Thesis
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The Keynesian-plus experiment: a study of social learning in the UK core executive, 1960-1966
Author: Pemberton, H., 2001Supervisor: Wickham-Jones, M. (Supervisor)
Student thesis: Doctoral Thesis › Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)