The Business State: Empire and Big Business in the Twentieth-Century British State
Apr 2027 · University of Chicago Press
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320
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About this ebook
Narrates how big business guided policy and expanded the state in early twentieth-century Britain.
During World War I, British businessmen streamed into government service. When Britain faced unprecedented economic challenges after the war’s end, civil servants turned to the same businessmen with whom they had worked. The result was a durable public-private network of both bureaucrats and executives: the business state.
In this book, Ian Kumekawa throws light on the previously obscured and hidden world of the business state and the economic thinking of its administrators. He breaks new methodological ground by treating the state and business together as a single entity. Twentieth-century states, he argues, were porous networks in which lines between business and governance were not clearly defined. In liberal democracies, the term “business-friendly” has long been understood as synonymous with laissez-faire. The Business State explores the historical limits of that assumption by focusing on Britain, the self-identified small, liberal state par excellence. In doing so, the book shows how a liberal democracy was effectively co-opted by private interests and explores how actively assisting big business became not just acceptable—but a political necessity.
During World War I, British businessmen streamed into government service. When Britain faced unprecedented economic challenges after the war’s end, civil servants turned to the same businessmen with whom they had worked. The result was a durable public-private network of both bureaucrats and executives: the business state.
In this book, Ian Kumekawa throws light on the previously obscured and hidden world of the business state and the economic thinking of its administrators. He breaks new methodological ground by treating the state and business together as a single entity. Twentieth-century states, he argues, were porous networks in which lines between business and governance were not clearly defined. In liberal democracies, the term “business-friendly” has long been understood as synonymous with laissez-faire. The Business State explores the historical limits of that assumption by focusing on Britain, the self-identified small, liberal state par excellence. In doing so, the book shows how a liberal democracy was effectively co-opted by private interests and explores how actively assisting big business became not just acceptable—but a political necessity.
Narrates how big business guided policy and expanded the state in early twentieth-century Britain.
During World War I, British businessmen streamed into government service. When Britain faced unprecedented economic challenges after the war’s end, civil servants turned to the same businessmen wit...
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About the author
Ian Kumekawa is a historian and lecturer based at the Center for History and Economics at Harvard University and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is the author of The First Serious Optimist: A.C. Pigou and the Birth of Welfare Economics and Empty Vessel: The Story of the Global Economy in One Barge.
Ian Kumekawa is a historian and lecturer based at the Center for History and Economics at Harvard University and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is the author of The First Serious Optimist: A.C. Pigou and the Birth of Welfare Economics and Empty Vessel: The Story of the Global Ec...
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