Over the ‘long’ 19th century, British politics underwent a quiet revolution: a revolution, not in its governing institutions, but in the ideas that underpinned them. In little more than a century, the idea of ‘democracy’—once a term of abuse, from which even radical politicians sought to disassociate themselves—established itself as the civic religion of British politics: the one authority against which there could be no court of appeal. Like other religions, democracy spawned a variety of sects and denominations, each of which sought to defend it against false democratic creeds: ranging from ‘social democracy’ and ‘industrial democracy’ to ‘Tory democracy’, ‘the property-owning democracy’, and ‘the democracy of the market’. The result, paradoxically, was to establish democracy both as the universal principle of British politics and as its central battlefield: an idea to which all paid tribute, but which seemed permanently under siege. This article explores the peculiar voyage of British democratic thought over the 19th and 20th centuries, focusing on its usage as an instrument of political warfare. The first section charts its emergence as the most potent challenge to the dominant narratives of the early-19th century: Whig constitutionalism and ‘reform’. A second section then charts the absorption of democracy into the core narratives of British political thought, while exploring the very different ends to which its authority could be put. A final section identifies three narrative battlegrounds for democracy in the 19th century, opening up fault lines that continue to structure British politics in the present.

中文翻译：

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怀疑的民主人士：1800 年以来英国的民主

在“漫长”的 19 世纪，英国政治经历了一场悄无声息的革命：一场革命不是在其管理机构，而是在支撑它们的思想。在不到一个世纪的时间里，“民主”的概念——曾经是一个滥用的术语，甚至激进的政治家也试图与自己分道扬镳——确立了自己作为英国政治的公民宗教：一个没有法庭可以反对的权威上诉。像其他宗教一样，民主产生了各种教派和教派，每个教派都试图捍卫它免受虚假的民主信条的侵害：从“社会民主”和“工业民主”到“保守党民主”、“财产所有制民主”、和“市场民主”。结果，矛盾的是，是将民主既作为英国政治的普遍原则，又作为其中心战场：一个所有人都赞叹的想法，但似乎永远处于围困之中。本文探讨了英国民主思想在 19 世纪和 20 世纪的奇特旅程，重点关注其作为政治战争工具的用途。第一部分描绘了它作为对 19 世纪早期主流叙事的最有力挑战的出现：辉格宪政主义和“改革”。然后，第二部分将民主吸收到英国政治思想的核心叙述中，同时探索其权威可以达到的非常不同的目的。最后一部分确定了 19 世纪民主的三个叙事战场，