Why did Britain's economic policy revolution in the 1960s achieve so little? Drawing on the latest political science theories of policy networks and policy learning, Hugh Pemberton outlines a new model of economic policy making and then uses it to interrogate recently-released government documents. In explaining both the radical shift in policy and its failure to achieve its full potential, this book has much to say about the problems of British governance throughout the whole of the postwar period.

This study offers a distinctive new account of British economic life since the Second World War, focussing upon the ways in which successive governments, in seeking to manage the economy, have sought simultaneously to 'manage the people': to try and manage popular understanding of economic issues. In doing so, governments have sought not only to shape expectations for electoral purposes but to construct broader narratives about how 'the economy' should be understood. The starting point of this work is to ask why these goals have been focussed upon (and differentially over time), how they have been constructed to appeal to the population, and, insofar as this can be assessed, how far the population has accepted these narratives. The first half of the book analyses the development of the major narratives from the 1940s onwards, addressing the notion of 'austerity' and its particular meaning in the 1940s; the rise of a narrative of 'economic decline from the late 1950s, and the subsequent attempts to 'modernize' the economy; the attempts to 'roll back the state' from the 1970s; the impact of ideas of 'globalization' in the 1900s; and, finally, the way the crisis of 2008/9 onwards was constructed as a problem of 'debts and deficits'. The second part of the book focuses on four key issues in attempts to 'manage the people': productivity, the balance of payments, inflation, and unemployment. It shows how, in each case, governments sought to get the populace to understand these issues in a particular light, and shaped strategies to that end.

This book draws on the latest and best social science to explain how and why social policy change occurs. Focusing on the policy making process as the key to change, it uses core concepts of policy analysis, one in each chapter, to build up a fully worked explanation of social policy change and to equip readers with knowledge that can be applied to any aspect of welfare policy and public and social policy more generally. This second edition of the book updates the bestselling first edition for the post-Blair era with international case studies from numerous countries. Understanding the policy process: · introduces the main themes of the policy analysis literature; · demonstrates the centrality of the policy making process to an understanding of the operational possibilities and limits of social policy; · takes account of macro-, meso- and micro-level approaches to social policy analysis; · uses clear explanations of key concepts, up-to-date illustrative case studies and examples to increase students' understanding of the theory and practice of policy analysis; · uses a comparative approach.

Glen O'Hara draws a compelling picture of Second World War Britain by investigating relations between people and government: the electorate's rising expectations and demands for universally-available social services, the increasing complexity of the new solutions to these needs, and mounting frustration with both among both governors and governed.

The Brief and Turbulent Life of Modernising Conservatism is an examination of government tensions and frustrations during a time of economic and social flux. It concentrates on the development of domestic industrial policy in the Conservative Party between 1945 and 1964, with particular emphasis on Harold Macmillan’s and Sir Alec Douglas-Home’s administrations. Between the general elections of 1959 and 1964, the Conservative Government effected a series of striking and dangerously controversial policy transformations in response to its recognition of Britain’s relative economic decline. These adjustments were both practical and strategic. The administration’s aim was extraordinarily ambitious. It sought to fashion a recognisably modern and dynamic, yet socially stable, nation that could retain its place in the international élite. Thereby, the Party hoped to ensure its own continuation in power. The author considers policy innovations that included an ill-starred attempt to join the European Community, the development of macro-economic planning, and the abolition of resale price maintenance–an exploit which roused the Tory Party to unusual heights of passion. The book does not simply regurgitate an orthodox high political narrative. Instead, it investigates topics of interest to modern historians and political scientists alike. It will be of value to anyone interested in questions of modern political ideology, social and economic change, the nature of popular political support, or the constraints on state power in the post-war world.

Founded in 1935 by a young publisher disillusioned with the class prejudices of the interwar publishing trade, Penguin Books set out to make good books available to all. The ‘Penguin Specials’, a series of current affairs books authored by leading intellectuals and politicians, embodied its democratising mission. Published over fifty years and often selling in vast quantities, these inexpensive paperbacks helped to shape popular ideas about subjects as varied as the welfare state, homelessness, social class and environmental decay. Using the ‘Specials’ as a lens through which to view Britain’s changing political landscape, Dean Blackburn tells a story about the ideas that shaped post-war Britain. Between the late-1930s and the mid-1980s, Blackburn argues, Britain witnessed the emergence and eclipse of a ‘meritocratic moment’, at the core of which was the belief that a strong relationship between merit and reward would bring about social stability and economic efficiency. Equal opportunity and professional expertise, values embodied by the egalitarian aspirations of Penguin’s publishing ethos, would be the drivers of social and economic progress. But as the social and economic crises of the 1970s took root, many contemporary thinkers and politicians cast doubt on the assumptions that informed meritocratic logic. Britain’s meritocratic moment had passed.

This Handbook offers a comprehensive treatment of transformations of the state, from its origins in different parts of the world and different time periods to its transformations since World War II in the advanced industrial countries, the post-Communist world, and the Global South. Leading experts in their fields, from Europe and North America, discuss conceptualizations and theories of the state and the transformations of the state in its engagement with a changing international environment as well as with changing domestic economic, social, and political challenges. The Handbook covers different types of states in the Global South (from failed to predatory, rentier and developmental), in different kinds of advanced industrial political economies (corporatist, statist, liberal, import substitution industrialization), and in various post-Communist countries (Russia, China, successor states to the USSR, and Eastern Europe). It also addresses crucial challenges in different areas of state intervention, from security to financial regulation, migration, welfare states, democratization and quality of democracy, ethno-nationalism, and human development. The volume makes a compelling case that far from losing its relevance in the face of globalization, the state remains a key actor in all areas of social and economic life, changing its areas of intervention, its modes of operation, and its structures in adaption to new international and domestic challenges.

The two centuries after 1800 witnessed a series of sweeping changes in the way in which Britain was governed, the duties of the state, and its role in the wider world. Powerful processes--from the development of democracy, the changing nature of the social contract, war, and economic dislocation--have challenged, and at times threatened to overwhelm, both governors and governed. Such shifts have also presented challenges to the historians who have researched and written about Britain's past politics. This Handbook shows the ways in which political historians have responded to these challenges, providing a snapshot of a field which has long been at the forefront of conceptual and methodological innovation within historical studies. It comprises thirty-three thematic essays by leading and emerging scholars in the field. Collectively, these essays assess and rethink the nature of modern British political history itself and suggest avenues and questions for future research. The Oxford Handbook of Modern British Political History thus provides a unique resource for those who wish to understand Britain's political past and a thought-provoking 'long view' for those interested in current political challenges.

How can we strengthen the capacity of governments and parties to manage arrivals and departures at the top? Democracy requires reliable processes for the transfer of power from one generation of leaders to the next. This book introduces new analytical frameworks and presents the latest empirical evidence from comparative political research.

Organizational learning is an area of study that focuses on models and theories about the way an organization learns and adapts. This volume investigates how various global and regional intergovernmental organizations, states and national bureaucracies, as well as nongovernmental organizations, exploit experience and knowledge to change their understanding of the world, their policies and their behaviours. Drawing upon and synthesizing organizational, social and individual-level learning theories, the cases explicate various learning processes, learning by illicit actors, and deterrents to organizational learning. The twelve case studies of this volume consider organizational learning associated with multiple issue areas including the United States embargo against Cuba, food security in the European Union, the Russian energy sector, Colombian drug trafficking, terrorist groups, the Catholic Church, and foreign aid agencies. Based entirely on original research, the volume is relevant to international relations, comparative politics, organizational sociology and policy studies.