British Idealist Engagements with Mazzinianism, 1858-1929

Tyler, Colin

Abstract

This article contributes to the scholarship on Giuseppe Mazzini’s impact on British radicalism through an analysis of British idealist engagements with his life and writings between 1858 and 1929. Section one introduces the topic. Section two (“Britain, Mazzini, Jowett and the Old Mortality Society”) sketches a background for the analysis, highlighting Mazzini’s place within the milieu of European exiles living in Britain from the 1840s to the 1870s, ultimately focusing on Mazzini’s engagements at Oxford. Section three (“Mazzini and Green: History and modernity”) explores the ways in which, despite areas of agreement, ultimately the Weltanschauung of the foundational figure in British idealist social and political thought and practice, Thomas Hill Green, differed fundamentally from that of Mazzini. Section four (“Republicanism in Practice: Virtue, associations, and the republican state”) argues that despite these fundamental philosophical differences, Green’s practical political theory drew directly on Mazzini’s writings, although differing over the crucial issue of the proper role of the state in the republic. From this basis, section five (“Mazzini and the later British idealists”) analyses the engagements with Mazzini’s writings of the next generation of British idealists, especially John MacCunn. The analysis concludes that although in 1881 Toynbee had reasonable grounds for characterizing Mazzini as “the true teacher of our age,” this claim became increasingly unsustainable from the late 1880s onwards, as evolutionary theory came to ground British idealist political thought.

Citation

Tyler, C. (online). British Idealist Engagements with Mazzinianism, 1858-1929. Journal of political ideologies, https://doi.org/10.1080/13569317.2024.2369304

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jun 13, 2024
• Online Publication Date: Jul 19, 2024
• Deposit Date: Jun 13, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 20, 2026
• Journal: Journal of Political Ideologies
• Print ISSN: 1356-9317
• Publisher: Routledge
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13569317.2024.2369304
• Keywords: British idealism; Mazzini; T.H. Green; Republicanism; Ideologies
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/4672604
• Additional Information: Awaiting final confirmation after minor Revise and Resubmit.; ; Will look into the possibility of Open Access.