Jim Tomlinson

The Politics of Decline

Understanding Postwar Britain

• Broschiertes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

Shelf classification: Politics/Political Economy The Politics of Decline Understanding Post-War Britain 'Decline' is a word commonly used in discussions of post-war Britain, and many books have been written explaining the reasons behind that alleged decline. By contrast, The Politics of Decline focuses on the politics underpinning this notion of decline. Tomlinson analyses how this term first came into common use in the 1950s and 1960s, how it developed over succeeding decades and how the Left and Right, as well as historians have deployed it. The key aim of the book is to show how economic decline has always been a highly politicised concept, forming a central part of post-war political argument. In doing so, Tomlinson reveals how the term has been used in an exceptionally tendentious manner to advance particular political causes. Coverage includes: - Explicit linkage of decline to political debate - Details of the historical emergence of the concept of decline - Examples of how historians have used decline politically - Evidence that the economic performance of the 1970s was actually less disastrous than commonly believed Written in an engaging and thought-provoking style, The Politics of Decline will be a welcome, fresh perspective on, what is, a fundamental concept of British post-war politics. Jim Tomlinson is Head of the Department of Government at Brunel University. Cover:

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Routledge
• Seitenzahl: 132
• Erscheinungstermin: 21. November 2000
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 234mm x 156mm x 8mm
• Gewicht: 218g
• ISBN-13: 9780582423688
• ISBN-10: 0582423686
• Artikelnr.: 39292819

Autorenporträt

Jim Tomlinson

Inhaltsangabe

Acknowledgements. List of tables. List of Abbreviations. 1. The Importance
of decline. Decline and declinism. Plan of the book. 2. Inventing decline.
Government and economic performance. Calculating decline. Industrial
production. Productivity. Britain and world trade. The culture of decline.
3. Decline and the Left. Labour and the economy to the mid-1950s. Labour
and declinism. The Marxist Left and decline. Conclusions. 4. Decline and
the Right. Origins of declinism. The Conservative road to declinism.
Culprits for decline: trade unions. The ideologues of decline: Barnett and
Wiener. 5. Decline as history, history as decline. The growth debate. The
academic issues. Economic history. Growth and declinism. The underpinnings
of declinism. The career of declinism. Declinism as history. Historical
declinism as politics. 6. Decline in the 1970s and 1980s. Decline in the
1970s. Causes of panic. The culture of decline and the panic of the 1970s.
An unjustified panic? The impact on politics. Conclusions. 7. The present
and future of decline. Political responsibility. Measuring decline.
Globalisation. Competitiveness. 'Education, education, education'.
Conclusions. Index.