George C. Peden (born 1943) is an emeritus

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professor ...

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

Stirling University The University of Stirling (, gd, Oilthigh Shruighlea (abbreviated as Stir or Shruiglea, in post-nominals) is a public university in Stirling, Scotland, founded by royal charter in 1967. It is located in the Central Belt of Scotland, built ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

Career

Peden was born in Dundee and educated at

Grove Academy Grove Academy is an 11–18 mixed secondary school in Broughty Ferry, Dundee, Scotland. History Grove Academy was established in 1889. In 2007, construction began on completely new buildings on the site of the Extension Buildings and huts. ...

Broughty Ferry Broughty Ferry (; Scottish Gaelic: ''Bruach Tatha''; Scots: ''Brochtie'') is a suburb of Dundee, Scotland. It is situated four miles east of the city centre on the north bank of the Firth of Tay. The area was a separate burgh from 1864 until 191 ...

. He has written about the

British Treasury His Majesty's Treasury (HM Treasury), occasionally referred to as the Exchequer, or more informally the Treasury, is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for developing and executing the government's public finance policy and ec ...

;

Keynesian economics Keynesian economics ( ; sometimes Keynesianism, named after British economist John Maynard Keynes) are the various macroeconomic theories and models of how aggregate demand (total spending in the economy) strongly influences economic output ...

; economic aspects of defence and

foreign policy A state's foreign policy or external policy (as opposed to internal or domestic policy) is its objectives and activities in relation to its interactions with other states, unions, and other political entities, whether bilaterally or through ...

; the

welfare state A welfare state is a form of government in which the state (or a well-established network of social institutions) protects and promotes the economic and social well-being of its citizens, based upon the principles of equal opportunity, equitab ...

, and some recent Scottish economic history. He worked for eight years as a sub-editor of the ''Dundee Evening Telegraph'' before becoming a

mature student An adult learner or, more commonly, a mature student, is a person who is older and is involved in forms of learning. Adult learners fall in a specific criterion of being experienced, and do not always have a high school diploma. Many of the adult ...

Dundee University , mottoeng = "My soul doth magnify the Lord" , established = 1967 – gained independent university status by Royal Charter1897 – Constituent college of the University of St Andrews1881 – University College , ...

, graduating MA with first class honours in modern history in 1972. He was a postgraduate at

Brasenose College, Oxford Brasenose College (BNC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It began as Brasenose Hall in the 13th century, before being founded as a college in 1509. The library and chapel were added in the m ...

, completing his thesis under the supervision of Professor

N. H. Gibbs Norman Henry Gibbs (17 April 1910, in London – 20 April 1990, in Witney, Oxfordshire) was Chichele Professor of the History of War at Oxford University for 24 years from 1953 to 1977, the longest tenure of all who have held the chair since ...

and graduating with a D.Phil. in 1976. He was a research fellow at the

Institute of Historical Research The Institute of Historical Research (IHR) is a British educational organisation providing resources and training for historical researchers. It is part of the School of Advanced Study in the University of London and is located at Senate House ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

; a temporary lecturer in history,

Leeds University , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , ...

, 1976–1977; lecturer in

economic An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with t ...

and

social history Social history, often called the new social history, is a field of history that looks at the lived experience of the past. In its "golden age" it was a major growth field in the 1960s and 1970s among scholars, and still is well represented in his ...

, and then reader in economic history,

Bristol University The University of Bristol is a Red brick university, red brick Russell Group research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Society of Merchant Venturers, Merchant Venturers' sc ...

, 1977–1990; and professor of history, Stirling University, 1990–2008. He was a

British Academy The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars span ...

research reader, 1987–1989, and visiting fellow,

All Souls College, Oxford All Souls College (official name: College of the Souls of All the Faithful Departed) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Unique to All Souls, all of its members automatically become fellows (i.e., full members of ...

, 1988–1989, and

St Catherine's College, Oxford St Catherine's College (colloquially called St Catz or Catz) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford and is the newest college admitting both undergraduate and graduate students. Tracing its roots back to 1868 (although t ...

, 2002. He is a fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...

Personal life

Peden lives in

Callander Callander (; gd, Calasraid) is a small town in the council area of Stirling, Scotland, situated on the River Teith. The town is located in the historic county of Perthshire and is a popular tourist stop to and from the Highlands. The town se ...

, on the edge of the

Scottish Highlands The Highlands ( sco, the Hielands; gd, a’ Ghàidhealtachd , 'the place of the Gaels') is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland ...

, and divides his time between

hillwalking Walking is one of the most popular outdoor recreational activities in the United Kingdom, and within England and Wales there is a comprehensive network of rights of way that permits access to the countryside. Furthermore, access to much unculti ...

and research and writing.

Publications

Books

(listed with reviews that summarise contents) *''British Rearmament and the Treasury'', 1932-1939 (Edinburgh, 1979) (''

English Historical Review ''The English Historical Review'' is a bimonthly peer-reviewed academic journal that was established in 1886 and published by Oxford University Press (formerly Longman). It publishes articles on all aspects of history – British, European, and ...

'', vol. 95, January 1980, p. 181). *''British Economic and Social Policy: Lloyd George to Margaret Thatcher'' (Oxford, 1985, 1991; Japanese edition: Chiba, 1990) (''Political Studies'', vol. 35, 1987, pp. 317–18). *''Keynes, the Treasury and British Economic Policy'' (London, 1988; Japanese edition: Tokyo, 1996). *''The Treasury and British Public Policy, 1906-1959'' (Oxford, 2000) (''Contemporary British History'', vol. 16, autumn 2002, p. 238; ''

Economica ''Economica'' is a peer review, peer-reviewed academic journal of generalist economics published on behalf of the London School of Economics by Wiley-Blackwell. Established in 1921, it is currently edited by Nava Ashraf, Oriana Bandiera, Tim Besl ...

'', vol. 69, August 2002, p. 528). *(ed.) ''Keynes and his Critics: Treasury Responses to the Keynesian Revolution 1925-1946'' (Oxford, 2004) (''

Journal of Economic History ''The Journal of Economic History'' is an academic journal of economic history which has been published since 1941. Many of its articles are quantitative, often following the formal approaches that have been called cliometrics or the new econom ...

'', vol. 66, March 2006, p. 248). *(ed. with T. M. Devine and C. H. Lee) ''The Transformation of Scotland: The Economy since 1700'' (Edinburgh, 2005) (''

History History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

''. vol. 91, January 2006, p. 113-14). *''Arms, Economics and British Strategy: From Dreadnoughts to Hydrogen Bombs'' (Cambridge, 2007) (''International History Review'', vol. 30, March 2008, p. 147; ''

RUSI Journal The ''RUSI Journal'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal covering international security and defence strategy. It was established in 1857 as the ''Royal United Services Institution Journal'', obtaining its current title in 1972. The journal is p ...

'', vol. 152, April 2007, p. 108). *Churchill, Chamberlain and Appeasement (Cambridge, 2022).

Articles in journals and chapters in books

*'Sir Warren Fisher and British rearmament against Germany', ''English Historical Review'', vol. 94 (1979), pp. 29–47. *'Keynes, the Treasury and unemployment in the later 1930s', ''Oxford Economic Papers'', vol. 32 (1980), pp. 1–18. *'Keynes, the economics of rearmament and appeasement', in

W. J. Mommsen Wolfgang Justin Mommsen (; 5 November 1930 – 11 August 2004) was a German historian. He was the twin brother of historian Hans Mommsen. Biography Wolfgang Mommsen was born in Marburg, the son of the historian Wilhelm Mommsen and great-grandso ...

and J. Kettenacker (eds), ''The Fascist Challenge and Appeasement'' (London 1983), pp. 142–56. *'Sir Richard Hopkins and the 'Keynesian revolution' in employment policy, 1929-45', ''Economic History Review'', vol. 36 (1983), pp. 281–96. *'The Treasury as the central department of government, 1919–1939', ''Public Administration'', vol. 61 (1983), pp. 235–50. *'Arms, government and businessmen, 1935–1945', in J. Turner (ed.), ''Businessmen and Politics: Studies of Business Activity in British Politics, 1900-1945'' (London, 1984), pp. 130–45 and 191–3. *'The burden of imperial defence and the continental commitment reconsidered', ''Historical Journal'', vol. 27 (1984), pp. 405–23. *'A matter of timing: the economic background to British foreign policy, 1937–1939', ''History'', vol. 69 (1984), pp. 15–28 - also published as 'Perceptions britanniques de la puissance economique a la fin des annees 1930', in R. Girault and R. Frank (eds), ''La Puissance en Europe 1938-1940'' (Paris, 1984), pp. 187–202. *'The 'Treasury view' on public works and employment in the interwar period', ''Economic History Review'', vol. 37, (1984), pp. 167–81. *'Economic aspects of British perceptions of power on the eve of the Cold War', in J. Becker and F. Knipping (eds), ''Power in Europe? Great Britain, France, Italy and Germany in a Postwar World, 1945-1950'' (Berlin and New York, 1986), pp. 237–61. *'Keynes', in S. Glynn and A. Booth (eds), ''The Road to Full Employment'' (London, 1987), pp. 97–108. *'Old dogs and new tricks: the British Treasury and Keynesian economics in the 1940s and 1950s', in M. O. Furner and B. Supple (eds), ''The State and Economic Knowledge: The American and British Experiences'' (Cambridge, 1990), pp. 208–38. *'Winston Churchill, Neville Chamberlain and the defence of Empire', in J. B. Hattendorf and M. H. Murfettt (eds), ''The Limitations of Military Power'' (London, 1990), pp. 160–72. *'Economic aspects of British perceptions of power', in E. Di Nolfo (ed.), ''Power in Europe? II: Great Britain, France, Germany and Italy and the Origins of the EEC, 1952-1957'' (Berlin and New York, 1992), pp. 139–59. *'An agenda for the economic history of twentieth-century Scotland', '' Scottish Economic and Social History'', vol. 13 (1993), pp. 5–26. *'Modernisierung in den 50er Jahren - die britische Erfahrung', in A. Schildt and A. Sywottek (eds), ''Modernisierung im Wiederaufbau. Die westdeutsche Gesellschaft der 50er Jahre'' (Bonn, 1993, 1998), pp. 47–68. *'The road to and from Gairloch: Lloyd George, unemployment, inflation, and the 'Treasury view' in 1921', ''Twentieth Century British History'', vol. 4 (1993), pp. 224–49. *'Economic Knowledge and the state in modern Britain', in S. J. D. Green and R. C. Whiting (eds), ''The Boundaries of the State in modern Britain'' (Cambridge, 1996), pp. 170–87. *'The Treasury view in the interwar period: an example of political economy?' in B. Corry (ed.), ''Unemployment and the Economists'' (Cheltenham, 1996), pp. 69–88. *'From cheap government to efficient government: the political economy of public expenditure, 1832–1914', in D. Winch and P. K. O'Brien (eds), ''The Political Economy of British Economic Experience, 1688-1914'' (Oxford, 2002), pp. 351–78. *'British Treasury responses to the Keynesian revolution, 1925–1939', ''Annals of the Society for the History of Economic Thought'', no. 44 (2003), pp. 31–44. *'The Treasury and the City', in R. Michie and P. Williamson (eds), ''The British Government and the City of London in the Twentieth Century'' (Cambridge, 2004), pp. 117–34. *'The managed economy: Scotland', 1919–2000, in T. M. Devine, C. H. Lee and G. C. Peden (eds), ''The Transformation of Scotland: The Economy since 1700'' (Edinburgh, 2005), pp. 233–65. *'Keynes and British economic policy', in R. E. Backhouse and B. W. Bateman (eds), ''The Cambridge Companion to Keynes'' (Cambridge, 2006), pp. 98–117. *'The Treasury and the defence of empire', in G. Kennedy (ed.), ''Imperial Defence: The Old World Order 1856-1956'' (London, 2008), pp. 71–110 *'Financing Churchill's army', in K. Neilson and G. Kennedy (eds), ''The British Way in Warfare: Power and the International System, 1856-1956'' (Farnham, 2010), pp. 277–99 *'Sir Horace Wilson and appeasement', ''Historical Journal'', vol. 53 (2010), pp. 983–1014. *'War and peace: the British Army after the victories of 1918 and 1945', in P. Dennis and J. Grey (eds), ''Victory or Defeat: Armies in the Aftermath of Conflict'' (Newport, NSW, 2010), pp. 81–103. *'A new Scotland? The economy', in T. M. Devine and J. Wormald (eds), ''The Oxford Handbook of Modern Scottish History'' (Oxford, 2012), pp. 652–70. *'Suez and Britain's decline as a world power', ''Historical Journal'', vol. 55 (2012), pp. 1073–1096. *'Recognising and responding to relative decline: The case of post-war Britain', ''Diplomacy & Statecraft'', vol. 24 (2013), pp. 59–76. *(with Alan Peacock) 'Merging National Insurance contributions and income tax: lessons of history', ''Economic Affairs'', vol. 34 (2014), pp. 2–13. *'Chamberlain, the British Army and the 'continental commitment' ', in M. Murfett (ed.), ''Shaping British Foreign and Defence Policy in the Twentieth Century'' (Basingstoke, 2014), pp. 86–110. *'The Royal Navy and Grand Strategy, 1937–1941', in N. Rodger, J. Dancy, B. Darnell and E. Wilson (eds), ''Strategy and the Sea'' (Woodbridge, 2016), pp. 148–58. *'Liberal economists and the British welfare state: from Beveridge to the New Right', in Roger E. Backhouse, Bradley W. Bateman, Tamotsu Nishizawa and Dieter Plehwe (eds), ''Liberalism and the Welfare State'' (New York, 2017), pp. 39–56. *'Neoliberal economists and the British welfare state, 1942–1975', ''Journal of the History of Economic Thought'', vol. 39 (2017), pp. 413–27. *'The growth of Cabinet government', in Hew Strachan (ed.), The British Home Front and the First World War (Cambridge, 2023), pp. 63-77.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Peden, G. C. 20th-century Scottish historians Living people Academics of the University of Stirling Writers from Dundee Alumni of the University of Dundee People educated at Grove Academy Alumni of Brasenose College, Oxford Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Academics of the University of Bristol 1943 births 21st-century Scottish historians