29. May 2026 19:00
Professor Catherine Marshall
Venue
"Zum Achter" (Ruderklub)
Neuenheimer Landstr. 3A
69120 Heidelberg
Synopsis:
Britain has no codified constitution. For centuries, it did not need one. Politicians, monarchs, and institutions were held in check not by enforceable rules, but by something subtler and more fragile: a shared culture of restraint, accountability, and respect for constitutional norms. The Victorians called it political deference. Today, it is in crisis.
From Boris Johnson’s brazen refusal to resign — or accept responsibility for anything — to the slow-motion scandal surrounding Prince Andrew and his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, to the growing speculation about whether Keir Starmer can survive the pressures bearing down on his government, the British political landscape has become a laboratory of institutional breakdown. What happens when leaders no longer feel bound by the unwritten rules? And what, if anything, can replace them?
Drawing on her book Political Deference in a Democratic Age (2021) and her research into British constitutional history, Catherine Marshall traces how this invisible glue has held — and is now failing to hold — the British system together. Her talk raises questions that go well beyond Britain: in an age of populism, media pressure, and weakened public trust, can any democracy survive on convention alone?
Professor Catherine Marshall
Catherine Marshall is a Full Professor of British Studies at CY Cergy Paris University (France).A specialist in the intellectual and political history of the Victorian period and its legacy in twentieth- and twenty-first-century Britain, her research has examined the ideas and influence of Walter Bagehot, led to the discovery and publication of the papers of the Metaphysical Society (1869–1881), and explored the evolution of political “deference” within the British constitution in her book Political Deference in a Democratic Age: British Politics and the Constitution from the Eighteenth Century to Brexit (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021). She currently leads the research axis “History of Political and Economic Ideas”, one of the three core research areas of the AGORA Research Centre at CY Cergy Paris University. Her ongoing research explores the historical foundations and evolution of British Conservatism from the nineteenth century to the present, with particular attention to its intellectual and ideological dimensions
29. May 2026 19:00
Professor Catherine Marshall
Venue
"Zum Achter" (Ruderklub)
Neuenheimer Landstr. 3A
69120 Heidelberg
Synopsis:
Britain has no codified constitution. For centuries, it did not need one. Politicians, monarchs, and institutions were held in check not by enforceable rules, but by something subtler and more fragile: a shared culture of restraint, accountability, and respect for constitutional norms. The Victorians called it political deference. Today, it is in crisis.
From Boris Johnson’s brazen refusal to resign — or accept responsibility for anything — to the slow-motion scandal surrounding Prince Andrew and his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, to the growing speculation about whether Keir Starmer can survive the pressures bearing down on his government, the British political landscape has become a laboratory of institutional breakdown. What happens when leaders no longer feel bound by the unwritten rules? And what, if anything, can replace them?
Drawing on her book Political Deference in a Democratic Age (2021) and her research into British constitutional history, Catherine Marshall traces how this invisible glue has held — and is now failing to hold — the British system together. Her talk raises questions that go well beyond Britain: in an age of populism, media pressure, and weakened public trust, can any democracy survive on convention alone?
Professor Catherine Marshall
Catherine Marshall is a Full Professor of British Studies at CY Cergy Paris University (France).A specialist in the intellectual and political history of the Victorian period and its legacy in twentieth- and twenty-first-century Britain, her research has examined the ideas and influence of Walter Bagehot, led to the discovery and publication of the papers of the Metaphysical Society (1869–1881), and explored the evolution of political “deference” within the British constitution in her book Political Deference in a Democratic Age: British Politics and the Constitution from the Eighteenth Century to Brexit (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021). She currently leads the research axis “History of Political and Economic Ideas”, one of the three core research areas of the AGORA Research Centre at CY Cergy Paris University. Her ongoing research explores the historical foundations and evolution of British Conservatism from the nineteenth century to the present, with particular attention to its intellectual and ideological dimensions