Professor Richard Huzzey richard.w.huzzey@durham.ac.uk
Professor
Professor Richard Huzzey richard.w.huzzey@durham.ac.uk
Professor
Maartje Janse
Henry Miller
Joris Oddens
Brodie Waddell
Richard Huzzey
Editor
Maartje Janse
Editor
Henry Miller
Editor
Joris Oddens
Editor
Brodie Waddell
Editor
This introduction charts the growth of a vibrant but fragmented field of research on petitions and petitioning across a wide range of different chronological and geographical contexts. The development of this literature has various causes, including dissatisfaction with established narratives regarding the 'rise' of democracy prompting an examination of non-electoral political practices; the emergence of e-petitions in the 21st century; and petitions’ utility for recovering the voices of groups – such as women, colonised or indigenous peoples, or refugees – marginalised within the official historical record. Mirroring the book’s structure, the introduction considers definition, chronology, and impact in turn. In defining petitions as a genre, it outlines various typologies before analysing the key elements that have historically characterised petitions. Petitioning’s history over the longue durée, it suggests, includes moments of transformation and rapid change mapping onto a broader story of social and political modernisation, but these exist alongside deep continuities that remain remarkably stable across long periods and regime changes. Finally, petitions have mattered, regardless of specific successes or failures, because of their many uses for both petitioners and authority. In particular contexts, petitioning has had the potential, sometimes realised, to catalyse sudden, unpredictable upheavals in politics, society, and the state.
Huzzey, R., Janse, M., Miller, H., Oddens, J., & Waddell, B. (2024). Petitions and Petitioning in Historical Perspective. In R. Huzzey, M. Janse, H. Miller, J. Oddens, & B. Waddell (Eds.), Petitions and Petitioning in Europe and North America: From the Late Medieval Period to the Present (1-30). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.5871/bacad/9780197267721.003.0001
Online Publication Date | Jun 20, 2024 |
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Publication Date | Jun 20, 2024 |
Deposit Date | Nov 20, 2023 |
Publicly Available Date | Jun 21, 2026 |
Publisher | Oxford University Press |
Peer Reviewed | Peer Reviewed |
Pages | 1-30 |
Book Title | Petitions and Petitioning in Europe and North America: From the Late Medieval Period to the Present |
Chapter Number | 1 |
ISBN | 9780197267721 |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.5871/bacad/9780197267721.003.0001 |
Public URL | https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1944688 |
Publisher URL | https://global.oup.com/academic/product/petitions-and-petitioning-in-europe-and-north-america-9780197267721 |
Additional Information | Richard Huzzey, Maartje Janse, Henry Miller, Joris Oddens, and Brodie Waddell |
Contract Date | Nov 20, 2023 |
This file is under embargo until Jun 21, 2026 due to copyright restrictions.
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