A01=Alistair Mutch
Author_Alistair Mutch
Category=NHB
Category=QRMB33
eighteenth-century Scotland
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Presbyterianism
Scottish history
Scottish national identity
Product details
- ISBN 9781399563628
- Dimensions: 156 x 234mm
- Publication Date: 30 Apr 2026
- Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Paperback
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Presbyterianism has shaped Scotland and its impact on the world. Behind its beliefs lie some distinctive practices of governance which endure even when belief fades. These practices place a particular emphasis on the detailed recording of decisions and what we can term a ‘systemic’ form of accountability.
This book examines the emergence and consolidation of such practices in the 18th-century Church of Scotland. Using extensive archival research and detailed local case studies, it contrasts them to what is termed a ‘personal’ form of accountability in England in the same period. The wider impact of the systemic approach to governance and accountability, especially in the United States of America, is explored, as is the enduring impact on Scottish identity.
This book offers a fresh perspective on the Presbyterian legacy in contemporary Scottish historiography, at the same time as informing current debates on national identity.
Alistair Mutch is Professor of Information & Learning at Nottingham Business School. He combines organizational theory with business history and has published on Scottish rural and religious history. He is author of Managing Information and Knowledge in Organizations, 2008 and Strategic and Organizational Change: From Production to Retailing in UK Brewing 1950-1990, 2006.
