Profile of Henry Miller

About

My recent research, funded by the AHRC, ESRC, and Leverhulme Trust, has focused on the comparative history of petitions and petitioning in modern Britain and beyond. My recent book, A Nation of Petitioners: Petitions and Petitioning in the United Kingdom, 1780-1918 (Cambridge, 2023) examined over one million petitions sent to the UK Parliament to recover the mass political participation of ordinary men and women in an era of democratisation, but not democracy. I am lead editor of Petitions and Petitioning in Europe and North America (Oxford, 2024) which will be the first comparative study on the evolution of these practices from the late medieval period to e-petitions today. I am currently writing up another book, Petitioning and People Power in Twentieth-Century Britain, which will be the first book exploring the use of petitions in an era of mass democracy. While my research adopts a historical perspective, I am interested in addressing current questions within social and political science concerning representation, collective action, participation, and democracy and democratisation. I enjoy collaborating with scholars with different geographic, disciplinary, and period expertise on these themes. I am currently developing a new project on democratic practices and local government in England, past and present; and am jointly leading a collaboration that will examine the use of petitioning in colonial and post-colonial contexts.

Research Interests

Citizenship, Civil Society, Comparative Politics, Contentious Politics, Democratisation, Elections, Elites, Institutions, Interest Groups, Local Government, Parliaments, Political Participation, Representation, Social Movements, Political Sociology, Campaign, Qualitative, Comparative Perspective, Domestic Politics, Mobilisation, Political Activism, Political Engagement, Protests, Public Opinion, State Power, Activism, Political Cultures