University of Oxford History Faculty

Faculty Postholders

Dr Martin Conway

M.A., D.Phil.
Lecturer (CUF) in Modern History

Research Interests

Dr Conway has written about the extreme-right in Belgium during the inter-war years and World War II. He has also written more generally on the extreme-right and Catholicism in twentieth-century Europe. He is currently writing a book on Belgium after World War II as well as a broader history of post-war Europe.

Supervision Interests

I am interested in supervising students broadly in the field of twentieth-century European history, with a particular interest in those who wish to work with me on my curent research interests in mid-twentieth century West European politics and the nature of the post-1945 political settlement.

Selected Publications:

'Building the Christian City: Catholics and Politics in Inter-War Francophone Belgium', Past and Present. Vol 128 (1990)
Collaboration in Belgium: Léon Degrelle and the Rexist Movement 1940-1944. (New Haven and London, 1993)
(ed.) Political Catholicism in Europe, 1918-1965 . (Oxford, 1996) 312pp.
'The extreme right in inter-war Francophone Belgium: Explanations of a failure', European History Quarterly. Vol 26 (1996) pp. 267-292
Catholic politics in Europe 1918-1945. (London, 1997) 118pp.
'Justice in postwar Belgium: Popular passions and political realities' in The politics of retribution in Europe. World War II and its aftermath. (Princeton, etc, 2000) pp. 133-156
(ed.) Europe in Exile: European Exile Communities in Britain 1940-1945 . (Oxford and New York, 2001)
'Catholic Politics or Christian Democracy? The Evolution of inter-war Political Caholicism' in Christdemokratie in Europa im 20. Jahrhundert. (Wien, etc, 2001) pp. 294-309
'Legacies of Exile: The Exile Governments in London and the Politics of Post-War Europe' in Europe in Exile: Refugee Communities in Great Britain, 1940-1945. (New York and Oxford, 2001) pp. 255-274
'Left Catholicism in Europe in the 1940s. Elements of an Explanation' in Left Catholicism. Catholics and Society in Western Europe at the Point of Liberation. (Leuven, 2001) pp. 269-81
'Democracy in post-war Western Europe. The Triumph of a Political Model', European History Quarterly. Vol 32 (2002) pp. 59-84
'European History Quarterly: The Politics of Democracy in Twentieth Century Europe' in European History Quarterly: The Politics of Democracy in Twentieth Century Europe. Vol 32(4) (London, 2002) pp. 7-12, 59-84
'The Age of Christian Democracy: The Frontiers of Success and Failure' in European Christian Democracy. Historical Legacies and Comparative Perspectives. (Notre Dame IND, 2003) pp. 43-67
'Europe after the High Tide: The Belgian Model for a Diverging Union' in Whose Europe? National Models and the Constitution of the European Union. (Oxford, 2003) pp. 66-73
(ed.) Special Issue of Contemporary European History on Political Legitimacy in mid-Twentieth-Century Europe . Vol XIII (Cambridge, 2004) 115pp.
'The Greek Civil War: Greek Exceptionalism or Mirror of a European Civil War?' in The Greek Civil War. (Aldershot, 2004)
'The Rise and Fall of Western Europe's Democratic Age 1945-73', Contemporary European History. Vol 13 (2004) pp. 67-88
'Reply to Jones', Contemporary European History. Vol 13 (2004) pp. 96-9
'Political Legitimacy in Mid-Twentieth Century Europe. An Introduction', Contemporary European History. Vol XIII (2004) pp. 377-88
'Problems of Digestion. The Memory of the Second World War in Flanders', The Low Countries. Vol XIII (2005) pp. 110-9
'Belgium's Mid-Twentieth Century Crisis: Crisis of a Nation State?', Revue Belge d'Histoire Contemporaine-Belgisch Tijdschrift voor Nieuwste Geschiedenis. Vol XXXV (2005) pp. 573-596
'The Christian Churches And Politics In Europe, 1914-1939' in The Cambridge History of Christianity. World Christianities c.1914-c. 2000. (Cambridge, 2006) pp. 151-178

Future Publications:

Political Legitimacy in mid-Twentieth Century Europe. (Oxford and New York, 2006)
The Death of Belgium: The Recovery and Crisis of the Belgian Nation-State 1944-47. (Oxford, 2007)
'The Low Countries' in Europe 1918-1939. (Oxford, 2007)

Research Interests and Activities

Modern Britain and Europe