This paper will explore key findings drawn from Emily Jones' monograph, Edmund Burke and the Invention of Modern Conservatism, 1830-1914: An Intellectual History (OUP, 2017) and her forthcoming book, One Nation: The Disraeli Myth and the Making of a Conservative Tradition (Princeton). In particular, she discusses how, by taking a generously conceived ‘reception history’ methodological approach to the history of modern political ideologies, we can locate significant moments in the ‘when’ and ‘how’ in their construction, but gain insights into both the historical contingency and relational nature of political ideologies, as well as the significant role that history and historical reconstruction had in the invention and reinvention of conservatism for much of its history.Emily Jones, Lecturer in Modern British History at the University of Manchester.

This research seminar was recorded at the Institute for Futures Studies in Stockholm in April 2025.