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In 1586, David Hume of Godscroft recorded a dialogue that he had with his patron Archibald Douglas, the 8th earl of Angus; this dialogue provides one of the earliest instances of the Anglophone neologism "patriot" used to describe either Scottish or English politics. The values associated with it – social solidarity, political activism, and, implicitly, relative equality – became imperative in Scotland, England, France, and the Netherlands as religious upheaval convulsed all of these societies. These values resurfaced powerfully and enduringly in the mid seventeenth century. The Scottish patriot not only loved his country and simultaneously saw himself as part of an international struggle, but also was centrally exercised to construct a British society. Then and later to be Scottish and British – and even in important ways European – did not divide an individual but proved mutually reinforcing.

Encountering the beast -- Apocalypse revived: the Reformation -- The last world empire and its competitors -- Prophecy and nature: science, sex, and salvation -- The British revolutions: the rise of modern politics -- Prophecy and science II: physics, geology, and the eschaton -- Apocalyptic conscience in crisis: Quakers, Jews, and other subversives -- Prophecy, enlightenment, and the democratic revolutions -- Novus ordo saeculorum: the rise of the redeemer republic -- Antichrist in the post-apocalyptic age

Since 1998, Northern Ireland has been the subject of a unique experiment in governance and democracy. The experiment includes the establishment of a participatory Civic Forum in which the voluntary and community sector has an important stake. Beginning with a discussion of the merits of a participatory aspect to democracy in the contemporary age, this paper identifies factors that might help establish the Civic Forum as a successful participatory institution in Northern Ireland. Key factors include the attitude towards the Forum of political representatives and their willingness to foster a participatory dimension to the new democracy. Other important factors are inclusiveness and the balance of sectoral representation in the Forum.

Discusses community development and citizen participation, focusing on the Civic Forum, and aspects of democracy after the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement. The Agreement (1998) was officially called "The Agreement Reached in the Multi-Party Negotiations" and became known variously as "The Good Friday Agreement," "The Belfast Agreement," "The Multi-Party Agreement," and "The British-Irish Agreement".

During the past few years it has become fashionable to speak of the "British Atlantic" and examine the Anglophone communities that came to populate it shores. This collection of essays undertakes something quite different. It examines the wide-ranging European interaction inherent in British expansion and discovers a multi-dimensional, multi-national Atlantic as a result. Spain, Sweden, and above all the Netherlands emerge as central to English and Scottish endeavors overseas and to the extremely diverse populations and cultures that eventually came to be known as British North America. This approach has led to a much richer and compelling picture of the early modern Atlantic world. The essays show the period to be one of collaboration as well as competition and conflict. They reveal far-reaching cultural, economic, and social interpenetration. Today's nationalist and ethnic preoccupations will find little comfort from them. The world they described is far too complex to fit the easy if stylish pattern of Edward Said's "orientalizing." The result has been a book at once highly significant and immediately topical. Contributors include: Wim Klooster, Allan I. Macinnes, Peter C. Mancall, Esther Mijers, Mark Peterson, Ernst Pijning, Steve Pincus, Kevin Sharpe, Reiner Smolinski, Jane Stevenson, Chris Storrs, Shona Vance, Helen Wilcox, and Arthur Williamson