The Long Land War: Scotland and Ireland in the longue durée
Published: 21 May 2025
Wednesday 11 June 2025
Wednesday 11 June 2025, 4-5pm
Jo Guldi
“The Long Land War: Scotland and Ireland in the longue durée”
Global History Research Cluster, joint with Centre for Scottish & Celtic Studies, Gilbert Scott 250 Room
The "Long Land War," spanning from 1881 to 1990, describes the period of conflicts over housing, freedom from eviction, and land ownership across Britain and the world during which many popular victories for rent control and land rights reversed the tide of early-modern confiscations of property.. In the longue durée, Scotland and Ireland played pivotal roles as sites of colonial experimentation, dispossession, and resistance. Scottish and Irish engagement with the land question shaped political identities, social movements, and the evolution of modern property regimes in the British Isles and beyond.
In this talk, Professor Guldi will offer some remarks about Scotland’s current experiments with land allocation and their immense value on a global scale. She will present her major thesis: that Scottish, Irish and Indian experiments pioneer the form of a future Big Green State that might adjudicate land, water, and atmospheric resources in an era of climate change.
First published: 21 May 2025