Linda Colley on War and Constitutions
05/09/22 • 49 min
Dr. Linda Colley is a leading expert on British imperial and global history, among other topics in British history. Dr. Colley is the M.C. Davis 1958 Professor of History at Princeton University, here today to discuss her newly published book, The Gun, The Ship, and the Pen: Warfare, Constitutions and the Making of the Modern World, which explores the complex interrelationship between the rise of modern warfare and the rise of modern constitutionalism worldwide. After introducing Dr. Colley, and discussing the themes of her book, we launch into a conversation about what drove her to research and write about the topic of constitutions across the globe. Hear about the brief period during 1653 when Britain had its own constitution, before Dr. Colley unpacks the role of printing press technology and the spread of literacy, and explains why building the French navy helped the American revolutionaries, but not the French monarchy. We address Toussaint’s two purposes for the constitutions, which unfolds into a discussion about the extent to which constitutions are not just a domestic tool, but serve an international purpose, with Tunisia as one of our examples. Hear how Japan’s constitution has worked to concede certain rights for its people, learn about James Beale’s vision for governance and modernization, and much more. Tune in for an in-depth discussion on the ever-evolving role of this fascinating type of document today.
Key Points From This Episode:
• Today’s guest, Dr. Linda Colley, expert on British imperial and global history.
• Themes explored in her newly published book, The Gun, The Ship, and the Pen.
• The brief period during 1653 when Britain had its own constitution.
• What moved her to write about global constitutions and their interpretations.
• The constitution drafted in Philadelphia in 1787’s role in influencing the rest of the globe.
• Mechanics of the relationship between war, revolution, and the emergence of constitutions.
• How the spread of literacy and printing presses facilitated codified constitutions.
• Why building the French navy helped the American revolutionaries, but not the French monarchy.
• Toussaint’s two purposes for the constitutions: to eradicate slavery in Haiti, and make it known to France that this is the case.
• The extent to which constitutions are not just a domestic tool, but a play for international legitimacy.
• Tunisia’s different approach to constitution making.
• How Japan’s constitution has worked to concede certain rights for its people.
• James Beale’s vision for governance and modernization.
• The evolution and plateau of the role and rights of women in society.
• Observing the link to the pressures of war within global constitutions.
• How Thomas Paine’s military service impacted his views, and how actual military service influences constitution makers in general.
• Catherine the Great in Russia and Bolivar in South America, and their constitutional influence.
• Tacit borrowings from the British model, and ultra-plagiarism in Norway.
• The best practices approach that can be pulled from all of these methods.
• How constant borrowing results in a final text that is distinct for each entity.
• Why the average duration of written constitutions is only 18 years and what that means.
• Why many constitutions within a country is not a failure, with South America as an example.
• The evolving aims and roles of constitutions and how they are being introduced.
• How the digital world influences constitutionalism across the globe.
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
The Gun, The Ship, and the Pen: Warfare, Constitutions and the Making of the Modern World
Dr. Linda Colley is a leading expert on British imperial and global history, among other topics in British history. Dr. Colley is the M.C. Davis 1958 Professor of History at Princeton University, here today to discuss her newly published book, The Gun, The Ship, and the Pen: Warfare, Constitutions and the Making of the Modern World, which explores the complex interrelationship between the rise of modern warfare and the rise of modern constitutionalism worldwide. After introducing Dr. Colley, and discussing the themes of her book, we launch into a conversation about what drove her to research and write about the topic of constitutions across the globe. Hear about the brief period during 1653 when Britain had its own constitution, before Dr. Colley unpacks the role of printing press technology and the spread of literacy, and explains why building the French navy helped the American revolutionaries, but not the French monarchy. We address Toussaint’s two purposes for the constitutions, which unfolds into a discussion about the extent to which constitutions are not just a domestic tool, but serve an international purpose, with Tunisia as one of our examples. Hear how Japan’s constitution has worked to concede certain rights for its people, learn about James Beale’s vision for governance and modernization, and much more. Tune in for an in-depth discussion on the ever-evolving role of this fascinating type of document today.
Key Points From This Episode:
• Today’s guest, Dr. Linda Colley, expert on British imperial and global history.
• Themes explored in her newly published book, The Gun, The Ship, and the Pen.
• The brief period during 1653 when Britain had its own constitution.
• What moved her to write about global constitutions and their interpretations.
• The constitution drafted in Philadelphia in 1787’s role in influencing the rest of the globe.
• Mechanics of the relationship between war, revolution, and the emergence of constitutions.
• How the spread of literacy and printing presses facilitated codified constitutions.
• Why building the French navy helped the American revolutionaries, but not the French monarchy.
• Toussaint’s two purposes for the constitutions: to eradicate slavery in Haiti, and make it known to France that this is the case.
• The extent to which constitutions are not just a domestic tool, but a play for international legitimacy.
• Tunisia’s different approach to constitution making.
• How Japan’s constitution has worked to concede certain rights for its people.
• James Beale’s vision for governance and modernization.
• The evolution and plateau of the role and rights of women in society.
• Observing the link to the pressures of war within global constitutions.
• How Thomas Paine’s military service impacted his views, and how actual military service influences constitution makers in general.
• Catherine the Great in Russia and Bolivar in South America, and their constitutional influence.
• Tacit borrowings from the British model, and ultra-plagiarism in Norway.
• The best practices approach that can be pulled from all of these methods.
• How constant borrowing results in a final text that is distinct for each entity.
• Why the average duration of written constitutions is only 18 years and what that means.
• Why many constitutions within a country is not a failure, with South America as an example.
• The evolving aims and roles of constitutions and how they are being introduced.
• How the digital world influences constitutionalism across the globe.
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
The Gun, The Ship, and the Pen: Warfare, Constitutions and the Making of the Modern World
Previous Episode
Charter Cities Atlas: Venice with Thibault Serlet and Corey Tazzara
Today’s episode is a bonus episode, where we take a deep dive into the Italian Renaissance (with a focus on Venice) with world-renowned expert, Professor Corey Tazzara. From the fall of the Roman Empire to the formation of independent city-states, to the financial and political ramifications of the crusades, to the rise and fall of Venice as an economic powerhouse, this conversation has it all! We start at the beginning, with a comment on the role of the Middle Ages in the formation of society as it is today, and how the literature of the times contributed to the maintenance of the Roman Empire as a power. Despite this, there was decentralization across Europe in the 800s, and independent city-states arose. Rome regained its power from tourism and through regaining the seat of the papacy, while Florence formed the birthplace of the Renaissance through its art, culture, and adoption of investment banking. Milan became an authoritarian state, and we hear how the condottieri contributed to this. Unexpectedly, Genoa gained wealth in the loss of the War of Chioggia, while Venice was created from the marshes by refugees. The focus of the conversation shifts to the role of Venice in the Renaissance, and how it influenced society as we see it today. We learn how venture capital was created to profit from the Crusades, and how links to other cultures and societies benefitted the trade between Venice and the rest of Europe and the Middle East. Tune in to find out how the Venice of today differs from the Renaissance era Venice, and so much more, in this incredible discussion!
Key Points From This Episode:
• Welcome to Corey Tazzara, professor of history at Scripps College and the world’s leading expert on medieval and early modern freeports.
• Background into the decentralization of the Roman Empire, and why we owe today’s society to the Middle Ages.
• How the literature of the Middle ages maintains the Roman Empire’s power.
• The formation of independent city-states across Europe, and how they worked.
• The role of the papacy in reviving Roman law.
• What the 12th Century Renaissance is, and how it impacted the European economy.
• How the crusades altered the trade done at the port city-states: sea vs land travel.
• Why the Fourth Crusade was the first example of venture capital.
• The radical democracies that started in the Byzantine era across Italy.
• A quick tour of the major houses at play across the city-states in the 1300s.
• The revival of Rome: from the center of an empire to a tourism hotspot.
• How Florence became a republic, and why Corey feels it is the birthplace of the Renaissance.
• Why the adoption of investment banking fueled Florence’s prosperity and the rise of the Medici family.
• Turning to Genoa: how the loss of the War of Chioggia lead to the gain of Western wealth in the centuries to come.
• The role of the condottieri in Milan’s authoritarian government and war-based economy.
• Who Francesco Sforza was, and how he served as an example of the dangers of the condottieri to political powers.
• A few honorable mentions of other city-states that had tumultuous histories throughout the Renaissance.
• The formation of Venice: how it was formed, and why its history is so different from other city-states.
• The story of St. Mark’s remains, why Mussolini hated the church of San Marco, and what these anecdotes say about Venice.
• Why Venice is the birthplace of investment banking and its role in the Fourth Crusade.
• How making Venice the gateway to the Levant drove up profit and Venetians who changed the world.
• A summary of the corporatist society underpinning Venetian finance.
• Why Venice can be likened to the North Korea of Renaissance Italy, and the roles of family ties in broadening its reach.
• How Venice became a cultural melting pot (relatively speaking) in the Middle Ages.
• The American pioneers of capitalism who were inspired by the Renaissance era of Venice.
• The end of the Italian Renaissance: the external and internal factors that contributed to its decline.
• Why shifting its focus to tourism in the 16th and 17th centuries was key to Venice's ongoing prosperity, and why it became so popular with Western tourists.
• Corey’s research into free ports in the Italian Renaissance: a teaser for the next discussion!
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Next Episode
The Real Story of China in Africa with Deborah Brautigam
China’s presence in Africa is widely speculated upon (and wildly misunderstood). Joining us today to speak to the truth of the matter is Sinologist-Africanist Professor of International Development at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, Deborah Brautigam. Deborah is also the Director of the China Africa Research Initiative (CARI) and author of Will Africa Feed China? and, more famously, The Dragon’s Gift: The Real Story of China in Africa. In this episode, she shares her nuanced perspective on the Chinese development model and aid program in Africa and how the rise of NGOs has shifted the nature of aid, in general. We discuss the role of aid as a geopolitical instrument and the differences in the ways China and the West approach the funding of infrastructure in Africa. We learn about Chinese loans versus commoditized loans, the lessons China has learned through its various endeavors, and the lessons Deborah suspects it is yet to learn. Tune in to hear more about the balance of ensuring sustainability and respecting sovereignty, what’s causing the decline in Chinese infrastructure lending, and where China’s focus has turned since the pandemic.
Key Points From This Episode:
• Deborah Brautigam’s interest in the Chinese development model and aid program in Africa.
• The argument of her first book, Will Africa Feed China?
• The problems Western aid projects have faced.
• How the rise of NGOs has shifted the nature of aid.
• The accountability structure of China in Africa.
• Aid as a geopolitical instrument.
• The two primary sources of finance for infrastructure in Africa: China and the bond markets.
• The Japanese Goa formula and its impact on Chinese aid practices today.
• How Chinese commodity-backed aid differs from that of Western entities.
• Zambia’s privatization of their copper mines.
• Why commoditized loans have a bad reputation.
• The advantage Chinese loans have over commoditized loans.
• Competitive bidding and external supervision of Chinese infrastructure in Angola.
• China’s reasons for supporting the developing world in the 60s and 70s: to support socialism and wrest diplomatic recognition away from Taipei and towards Beijing.
• The lessons China took from undertaking the Tanzam railway project in the 70s.
• Tazara Syndrome: the pride of funding projects nobody else wants to fund.
• The art of project appraisal and how to minimize risk in demand projections.
• China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
• The balance between ensuring the sustainability of aid projects and respecting sovereignty.
• How political interests undermine the ability of state-owned enterprises to be sustainable.
• The specialization and division of labor between China and the West.
• The Western profit model of new urban agglomerations.
• The misguided New Yorker report on debt-trap diplomacy in Sri Lanka.
• Reasons for the recent decline in Chinese infrastructure spending.
• China’s plans to focus on local infrastructure.
• Various views on China's motives amongst policymakers.
• Deborah’s book recommendations pertaining to Chinese issues.
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
The Dragon’s Gift: The Real Story of China in Africa
Rivers of Iron: Railroads and Chinese Power in Southeast Asia
If you like this episode you’ll love
Episode Comments
Generate a badge
Get a badge for your website that links back to this episode
<a href="https://goodpods.com/podcasts/charter-cities-podcast-292917/linda-colley-on-war-and-constitutions-38326965"> <img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/goodpods-images-bucket/badges/generic-badge-1.svg" alt="listen to linda colley on war and constitutions on goodpods" style="width: 225px" /> </a>
Copy