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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 February 2013
The importance of political assassination lies in the response of the state. That response takes place within a specific culture. This article analyses the assassination culture of the British imperial state. Most studies of assassination in British history concentrate on specific events. On the basis of detailed archival investigation the current article argues that long-term trends are discernible, in particular that the imperial state had a recurrent reflex in characterizing the conspiracies that threatened it. This reflex, in turn, governed the nature of the response to assassination.
I would like to thank Professor Colin Kidd, University of St Andrews, for allowing me to read drafts of his articles ‘The Warren Commission and the dons’ and ‘Assassination principles in Scottish political culture: Buchanan to Hogg’ thereby igniting an interest in assassination culture. The current article was immeasurably improved by Professor Julian Hoppit and the anonymous readers of the Historical Journal.
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