Civil liberties in Britain during the Cold War (1945 to 1989)
Joan Mahoney,聽who teaches聽civil liberties at BU,聽is聽currently working on a book with Keith Ewing of King鈥檚 College, London.聽This project聽follows earlier work that Keith has done with Conor Gearty on British civil liberties in the first half of the 20th century, and includes material from聽Joan鈥檚 dissertation on the McCarthy period in Britain, looking at civil liberties in Britain during the Cold War, from 1945 to 1989.
In particular, the project is聽concerned with government action regarding employment, limits on the right of assembly, free speech, and government surveillance. Much of聽the researchers鈥櫬爉aterial comes from the government archives, although they聽have also found useful sources in the archives of Liberty, the Labour Party, and other, smaller, collections.
By comparing the United States and Great Britain during this period,聽it 聽can be seen how the protection of free speech and political association broke down in the US, despite the written constitution and a powerful Supreme Court, while the political atmosphere in Britain remained comparatively open, despite a level of government surveillance and secrecy beyond what was generally public knowledge.
