Richard Bourke, Professor in the History of Political Thought, will be holding his Inaugural Lecture on Tuesday 3rd May at 6.30pm. The lecture will be followed by a drinks reception.

Lecture Synopsis:

Historians tend to explain the origins of modern Europe in terms of the demise of ‘the old regime’. The Enlightenment, culminating in the Age of Revolutions, is usually described as the transition between the two epochs. This lecture explores the emergence of the idea of the old regime, and asks whether it adequately captures past experience. If the period since 1750 cannot be coherently viewed in terms of progress from anancien régime to modernity, we are left with a general question that bears on our current self-understanding: how are we to interpret the meaning of our present?

Meet the Professor:

Richard Bourke is Professor in the History of Political Thought at Queen Mary University of London. His books include Empire and Revolution: The Political Life of Edmund Burke, which appeared with Princeton University Press in September 2015.