ABSTRACT
This chapter begins by thinking about the formal structure of politics, including the state and key offices within it. It considers the nature of the political community in a more informal way by exploring the new phenomenon of the ‘public sphere’, an arena outside of the official structure of politics in which political activity was increasingly taking place. Important context for the study of citizenship is the political system itself. Much of the British political system of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries would be familiar to Britons. Many of its institutions, offices and conventions exist. In Britain, the monarch is the head of state. They exercise the executive power: they have the final say, sign off legislation and approve the appointment of ministers. In contrast with France, which followed Salic law, in Britain the office could be held in its own right by a woman.
