
Title
Professor of Modern British History
Vice-President Université de Paris
Research themes
- Conservatism and the British Conservative Party
- Women’s movements, gender and politics
- Volunteering and the voluntary sector
- Religion and politics
Current Project
- I am currently the Principal Investigator (Chair) of a European COST project (COST Action 18119) entitled “Who cares in Europe?”], which brings together scholars from more than 25 European countries for four years (May 2019-May 2023). The aim is to develop an emerging field of research that explores the relationships among voluntary associations, families and states in the creation of social welfare in Europe. It focuses on the question of how state welfare emerged from the social welfare provided by non-profit, non-state institutions and individuals.
Cost Action 18119 – Who Cares in Europe?This research programme stems from a two-year project (2016-2018) funded by the European University Institute examining “European Trajectories in the Quest for Welfare and Democracy: Voluntary Associations, Families and the State, 1870s – 1990s.” The network brought together some 35 scholars from across Europe who seek to question our understanding of European social welfare both historically and socially, by examining the numerous ways in which families, churches, trade unions, municipalities and other private or semi-public associations have interacted with each other and with the state in the identification of social problems and the creation of solutions.
- I am also working on the political mobilisation of Conservative women in the period from 1918 to 1990 and the links between gender, politics and voluntary action. I co-edited with Julie Gottlieb a volume entitled Rethinking right-wing women. Gender and the Conservative Party, 1880s to the present (Manchester University Press, 2017). One of our aims is to publish a volume on the history of right-wing women and social action from a European perspective. I’m also interested in the role Conservative women played in the creation of the European Union of Women in 1953 and the links between the British Conservative Party and the Christian Democratic Parties on the continent.
- I am involved, with Jean-Christian Vinel, in a project on populism and its roots at the heart of liberal democracies. This project is a sequel to our book on Postwar Conservatism, a transnational investigation. Britain, France and the United States 1930-1990, Palgrave Macmillan, 2017.
I am also involved in writing a gendered social history of health inequality in Europe.
Research Supervision
I welcome applications from students interested in researching the following areas of twentieth-century British history:
- popular politics
- the history of Conservatism and the Conservative Party
- women’s movements, gender and sexuality
- volunteering and the voluntary sector
Doctoral students :
- Mathias Kulpinski
Masculinities and class identities in the United Kingdom, 1900-1939, an autobiographical inquiry.
Supervised by: Clarisse Berthezène (Université de Paris) and Ben Griffin (Cambridge) - Joanne Raineau
Dissertation topic : The Women’s Refuge Movement in the United Kingdom, 1971-2000
Supervised by: Clarisse Berthezène (Université de Paris) et Natalie Thomlinson (University of Reading) - Caroline Tran Van
Dissertation topic : The History of Medical Education in the UK from 1945 onwards. - Véronique Ward
Dissertation topic : La nébuleuse associative de protection de la nature et des animaux et ses réseaux en Grande-Bretagne, 1870–1950.
Education and Academic Positions
- 2018 to the present: Professor, Université Paris-Diderot
- 2017-2018: Research, Higher Education and Innovation Attachée at the French Embassy in London
- 2004-2017: Lecturer, Université Paris-Diderot
- 2017, Habilitation à diriger des recherches, Université de Bourgogne : “Vers une histoire transnationale des conservatismes. Mobilisations politiques et transformations de la société civile, 1883 à nos jours”
- 2003 : Ph.D., University Paris III-Sorbonne Nouvelle : “Les conservateurs britanniques dans la bataille des idées. Le Ashridge Bonar Law Memorial College : des ‘conservateurs fabiens’ à la conquête des esprits, 1929-1954”
- 1997 : “DEA” in History at Sciences Po, Paris
- 1996 : “Agrégation” in English
- 1995 : MA in International History at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)
- Former student at the École Normale Supérieure of Fontenay-St Cloud (1993-1998)
Administrative Responsibilities
- 2019-: Vice-President Université de Paris
- 2019-: Deputy Chair LARCA UMR 8225
- Member of the Scientific Committee of French Society for political history
- 2019-: Member of the Franco-British Council
- Member of the scientific committees of the following journals:
- Twentieth Century British History, https://academic.oup.com/tcbh
- Passés Futurs, https://www.politika.io/fr/passes-futurs
- 2017-2019: Head of the Political History Group of the LARCA, UMR 8225
- 2011-present: Member of the Board of the LARCA, UMR 8225
- 2014-present: Elected member of the Scientific Board of the Department of Anglophone Studies
- 2011-2017: Elected member of the CNU (Conseil national des universités)
- 2011- 2013 : Member of the conseil scientifique de l’Institut des Humanités de Paris (IHP)
Royaume-Uni : «Le Parti conservateur a une capacité extraordinaire de rebondissement»Entretien avec Clarisse Berthezène, Le Monde 06/09/19
“Les conservateurs britanniques dans la contradiction”Clarisse Berthezène invitée de la Marche de l’Histoire sur France Inter – 28 mai 2019
“La Grande-Bretagne, l’Europe et les autres (3/4) – Le choix du Monde ?”Clarisse Berthezène invitée de La fabrique de l’Histoire – France Culture – 27 mars 2019
Abécédaire du Larca – D comme Démocratie – Clarisse Berthezène
La droite française à rebours des droites européennes ?Débat avec Michal Kozlowski, Mercedes Yusta et Clarisse Berthezène – Mediapart – 30 novembre 2016
Conservatisme et ultralibéralisme ne sont pas synonymesLe Monde – 30 novembre 2016
«The Feminising Fallout of Britain’s EU Referendum: Is this the New Face of Feminism?»By Clarisse Berthezène and Julie Gottlieb – 05 juillet 2016
L’Esprit de 45 : entretien avec l’historienne Clarisse Berthezène – Zerodeconduite.net
6ème Café de l’innovation politique
Considering Conservative Women in the Gendering of Modern British Politics Date de publication : 20/11/2020
Rethinking right-wing women Gender and the Conservative Party, 1880s to the present Date de publication : 01/12/2017
Postwar Conservatism, A Transnational Investigation Britain, France, and the United States, 1930-1990 Date de publication : 03/05/2017
Conservatismes en mouvement Une approche transnationale au XXe siècle Date de publication : 28/10/2016
Training minds for the war of ideas Ashridge College, the Conservative Party and the cultural politics of Britain, 1929–54 Date de publication : 01/06/2015
Les conservateurs britanniques dans la bataille des idées Ashridge College, premier think tank conservateur Date de publication : 05/01/2011
Le monde britannique (1815-1931) Historiographie, bibliographie, enjeux Date de publication : 25/01/2010