Alan Cromartie
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+44 (0) 118 378 6781
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Professor
Postgraduate Research Director
Areas of interest
- The history of political thought (especially, but not exclusively, in early modern England)
- Military ethics
- The idea of rights
- The philosophy of history.
Postgraduate supervision
I am always happy to discuss proposals for PhD research in the history of political thought.Research centres and groups
Political Theory Centre
Background
I started my career as a political historian with an interest in the causes of the English Revolution. This led me to investigate the "constitutionalism" that was then a central feature of English political culture (the fact that political questions were framed in legal terms).
My book The Constitutionalist Revolution (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006) explores the preconditions and the practical effects of the spread of constitutionalist assumptions.
The prominence of strategists in Reading’s research culture gave me an additional interest in thinking about war.
At present, I am writing a large-scale book about Hobbes: The Context of Leviathan: a Biographical Study.
Academic qualifications
MA, PhD (Cantab.)Awards and honours
Programme Director of the Major Leverhulme Research Programme "The Liberal Way of War"Professional bodies/affiliations
The Legacy of Greek Political Thought Network
Selected publications
Other major publications include: Sir Matthew Hale: law, religion and natural philosophy (Cambridge, 1995)
Publications
- Cromartie, A. (2022) Hobbes, Constant, and Berlin on Liberty. History of European Ideas , 48 (3). pp. 214-228. ISSN: 0191-6599 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01916599.2022.2056330
- Cromartie, A. (2021) The testimony of the spirit, the decline of Calvinism, and the origins of restoration rational religion. Journal of Ecclesiastical History , 72 (1). pp. 71-94. ISSN: 1469-7637 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0022046920000068
- Cromartie, A. (2019) Democracy, toleration, and the interests of the people. In: Cuttica, C. and Peltonen, M. , (eds.) Democracy and Anti-Democracy in Early Modern England 1603–1689. Brill , Leiden. pp. 45-65. ISBN: 978900438586
- Cromartie, A. (2018) Hobbes, Calvinism, and Determinism. In: van Apeldoorn, L. and Douglass, R. , (eds.) Hobbes on Politics and Religion. Oxford University Press , Oxford. ISBN: 9780198803409
- Cromartie, A. (2017) Epieikeia and conscience. In: Hutson, L. , (eds.) Oxford Handbook of English Law and Literature, 1500-1700. Oxford University Press , Oxford. pp. 320-336. ISBN: 9780199660889
- Cromartie, A. (2016) Parliamentary sovereignty, popular sovereignty, and Henry Parker's adjudicative standpoint. In: Bourke, R. and Skinner, Q. , (eds.) Popular sovereignty in historical perspective. Cambridge University Press , Cambridge. pp. 142-163. ISBN: 9781107130401
- Cromartie, A. (2015) War, sovereignty, and civilization from Bodin to Rawls. In: Cromartie, A. , (eds.) Liberal wars: Anglo-American strategy, ideology, and practice. Routledge , Abingdon. pp. 107-127. ISBN: 9781138840119
- Cromartie, A. (2015) Introduction. In: Cromartie, A. , (eds.) Liberal wars: Anglo-American strategy, ideology, and practice. Routledge , Abingdon. pp. 1-21. ISBN: 9781138840119
- Cromartie, A. (2015) The persistence of royalism. The Oxford Handbook of the English Revolution. Oxford University Press , Oxford. pp. 317-413. ISBN: 9780199695898
- Cromartie, A. (2012) Afterword: knowing knowing al-Qaeda. In: Hellmich, C. and Behnke, A. , (eds.) Knowing Al-Qaeda: the epistemology of terrorism. Rethinking political and international theory Ashgate , Farnham, Surrey. pp. 167-172. ISBN: 9781409423669
- Cromartie, A. (2012) Field manual 3-24 and the heritage of counterinsurgency theory. Millennium: Journal of International Studies , 41 (1). pp. 91-111. ISSN: 1477-9021 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0305829812451973
- Cromartie, A. (2011) The mind of William Laud. In: Prior, C. and Burgess, G. , (eds.) England's wars of religion,revisited. Ashgate , Farnham. pp. 75-100. ISBN: 9781409419730
- Cromartie, A. (2011) 'The Elements' and Hobbesian moral thinking. History of Political Thought , 32 (1). pp. 21-47. ISSN: 0143-781X
- Cromartie, A. (2009) Hobbes, history, and non-domination. Hobbes Studies , 22 (2). pp. 171-177. ISSN: 1875-0257
- Cromartie, A. (2008) The God of Thomas Hobbes. Historical Journal , 51 (4). pp. 857-879. ISSN: 1469-5103 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0018246X08007103
- Cromartie, A. (2007) The idea of common law as custom. In: Murphy, J. and Perreau-Saussine, A. , (eds.) The nature of customary law: legal, historical and philosophical perspectives. Cambridge University Press , Cambridge. pp. 203-227. ISBN: 9780521875110
- Cromartie, A. (2006) The constitutionalist revolution: an essay on the history of England, 1450–1642. Ideas in Context Cambridge University Press (75). , Cambridge. pp 326. ISBN: 9780521782692
- Cromartie, A. (2006) King James and the Hampton Court Conference. In: Houlbrooke, R. , (eds.) James VI and I: ideas, authority, and government. Ashgate , Aldershot. pp. 63-80. ISBN: 9780754654100
- Cromartie, A. (2005) Thomas Hobbes, a dialogue between a philosopher and a student, of the common laws of England. In: Cromartie, A. , (eds.) Thomas Hobbes, Writings on common law and hereditary right. Oxford University Press , Oxford. pp 272. ISBN: 9780199236237
- Cromartie, A. (2004) Common law, counsel and consent in Fortescue's political theory. In: Clark, L. and Carpenter, C. , (eds.) The Fifteenth Century IV: Political Culture in Late Medieval Britain . , 4. The fifteenth century , 4 pp. 45-67. ISBN: 9781843831068
- Cromartie, A. (2000) Unwritten law in Hobbesian political thought. The British Journal of Politics and International Relations , 2 (2). pp. 161-178. ISSN: 1369-1481 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1467-856X.00032
- Cromartie, A. (2000) Theology and politics in Richard Hooker's thought. History of Political Thought , XXI (1). pp. 41-66. ISSN: 0143-781X
- Cromartie, A. (1999) The constitutionalist revolution: the transformation of political culture in early Stuart England. Past & Present , 163 (1). pp. 76-120. ISSN: 1477-464X | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/past/163.1.76
- Cromartie, A. (1998) Harringtonian virtue: Harrington, Machiavelli, and the method of the 'Moment' . The Historical Journal , 41 (4). pp. 987-1009 . ISSN: 0018-246X
- Cromartie, A. (1995) Sir Matthew Hale 1609-1676: Law, religion and natural philosophy. Cambridge studies in early modern British history Cambridge University Press ISBN: 0-521-45043-8