Thread by @AndrewBrunatti

For the next instalment of my #Castlereagh200 threads looking at the career of Viscount Castlereagh through the lens of #MentalHealth, let's turn to another factor that has a significant impact on one's level of chronic stress: autonomy.

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#twitterstorians #HistParl #19thC

In this context, autonomy refers to one's ability to influence the pace, organization, or outcomes of their work. Ultimately, greater autonomy allows individuals to manage their work in ways that mitigate stress, improve well-being, and lead to greater pride in the outcomes.
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The traditional view of Castlereagh, articulated initially by CK Webster, has been that he had significant autonomy, mainly through his dominance of Britain’s foreign policy.

But let's unpack this a little bit...

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Knowledge work (eg. policymaking) is particularly prone to ‘tied autonomy,’ which is when an individual *in theory* has the freedom to manage their own work but, in reality, their work is dependent on other factors or susceptible to external forces (ie. autonomy is ‘tied’)
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In a situation of tied autonomy, the work for which an individual is formally responsible reflects only a portion of their total effort--a significant *additional* effort is needed to navigate the many competing demands on which the work is contingent.
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Tied autonomy, especially when combined with conflicting external pressures and individual accountability, can result in relentless stress, decision-making fatigue, and continuous tension, all of which can have significant #MentalHealth implications.
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Webster’s original assessment of Castlereagh’s autonomy was based predominantly on his role in foreign policy (esp. his role in congresses) but if we look at Castlereagh’s broader role as a politician and policymaker a more complex picture emerges (see summary figure).
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All of these factors constrained Castlereagh's autonomy and placed discrete demands on him. To be clear, many of these were (and are) also inherent parts of the political system. They key: these demands were often contradictory and required *significant* effort to navigate.
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For instance, in 1820 when Castlereagh was trying to manage increasingly fractious Continental allies, the King's insistence on pursuing a divorce from Queen Caroline ate up most of the Government's policy agenda (and Castlereagh's time) for an entire parliamentary session.
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Also, Castlereagh was balancing Britain's global role/ interests with the govt's precarious post-war finances. Not unlike today's public servants, the broader economic context required him to 'do more with less', which made his autonomy dependent on managing scarce resources.
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I cover more ground in the article--suffice to say that Webster’s view that Castlereagh enjoyed significant autonomy needs explicit nuancing. In reality, there was a complex, interconnected network of demands that Castlereagh had to continually navigate to get things done.
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These factors, which all tied the Foreign Secretary’s autonomy and were frequently at odds with each other, created persistent tension within Castlereagh’s work that would have contributed to cumulative levels of chronic stress and risks to his mental health.
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