Corporatism and the British Constitutional Heritage

Abstract

This article challenges a historiographical understanding of corporatism as an appendix of fascist ideology by examining the elaboration and diffusion of corporatist cultures in Britain during the first half of the 20th century. The case study seeks, on the one hand, to highlight the changing nature of corporatism by showing the different forms – fascist and non-fascist – that it took in Britain in the given time period. On the other hand, the article connects British corporatism with the European corporatist movement, as well as with the British constitutional heritage, underlining the close entangling of national and transnational issues.