The Politics of State Expansion: War, State and Society in Twentieth Century Britain

by James Cronin

Overview

The expansion of the British state was neither automatic nor accidental. Rather, it was the outcome of recurring battles over the proper boundaries of the state and its role in economy and society. The Politics of State Expansion focuses on the interests arrayed on either side of this struggle; providing a new and critical perspective on the growth of the ‘Keynsian welfare state' and on the more recent retreat from Keynes and from collective provision.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781138878242
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	04/27/2015
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

James E. Cronin

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Introduction: The politics of state expansion in twentieth-century Britain; Chapter 2 The Victorian inheritance; Chapter 3 Labour and the demand for state expansion, 1890–1918; Chapter 4 War and the creation of the modern tax state; Chapter 5 The state in war and reconstruction; Chapter 6 The resilience of budgetary orthodoxy; Chapter 7 Labour and the state between the wars; Chapter 8 The “people's war” and the transformation of the state; Chapter 9 Towards the “Liberal-Socialist” state, 1945–51; Chapter 10 “Centring” the postwar settlement; Chapter 11 Epilogue: Decline to Thatcher;

Editorial Reviews

‘James Cronin has produced not only a valuable analysis but also a work of considerable scholarship.' - Political Studies XL, 1992

‘This is in many ways a quite splendid study. We all know how important questions of finance and budget are for state and society. What we are rarely told is how those central relations actually are played out, how politicians connect with civil servants, how and why the crucial decisions are taken, particularly in matters of taxation and public finance ... With knowledge and insight, James Cronin has looked deeply into the process for twentieth-century Britain. Historians of the growth of the state will be greatly in his debt.' - Peter Stansky, Stanford University

‘James Cronin's study of the expansion of the twentieth-century British state is timely and important...no other study offers quite such a sustained, long-period examination of the problem Cronin addresses.' - Social History Society Newsletter

‘A lucid, original combination of history and political criticism.' - Charles Tilly, New School for Social Research

From the Publisher