IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/envira/v55y2023i1p122-142.html

The distinctiveness of state capitalism in Britain: Market-making, industrial policy and economic space

Author

Listed:
  • James Silverwood

    (4545Bishop Grosseteste University, UK)

  • Craig Berry

    (5289Manchester Metropolitan University, UK)

Abstract

Britain is rarely considered an exemplar of ‘state capitalism’. In contrast, we argue that Britain should be treated as the prototype project of state capitalism in the world economic system, the primary contribution of our paper been to outline the parameters of state capitalism in Britain across two historical periods. Turning the conceptual lens of state capitalism towards Britain raises some challenging issues for the wider literature. Recent scholarship has started to consider greater diversity in regimes of state capitalism and moved beyond the typical nation-state geographical imaginary of state capitalism. Similarly, our paper seeks to introduce a new spatiality to state capitalism with deeper sensitivity to multi-scalar relations. State capitalism in Britain has rarely been bound to the geographical limitations of the nation-state; instead, it has been a transnational project, centred variably on empire, Europe, and the global market – with industrial policy tailored to enable the British economy to exploit and/or service these various spaces by ‘making markets’. We emphasize the often-financialized nature of this industrial policy intervention arguing it is constitutive of a ‘financial state capitalism’.

Suggested Citation

  • James Silverwood & Craig Berry, 2023. "The distinctiveness of state capitalism in Britain: Market-making, industrial policy and economic space," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 55(1), pages 122-142, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:55:y:2023:i:1:p:122-142
    DOI: 10.1177/0308518X221102960
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0308518X221102960
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0308518X221102960?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Brian Bell & John Reenen, 2014. "Bankers and Their Bonuses," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 124(574), pages 1-21, February.
    2. Ruggie, John Gerard, 1982. "International regimes, transactions, and change: embedded liberalism in the postwar economic order," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 36(2), pages 379-415, April.
    3. Kurlantzick, Joshua, 2016. "State Capitalism: How the Return of Statism is Transforming the World," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199385706.
    4. Derek H. Aldcroft & Harry W. Richardson, 1969. "The British Economy 1870–1939," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-1-349-15346-6, April.
    5. Roger Middleton, 2010. "British monetary and fiscal policy in the 1930s," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 26(3), pages 414-441, Autumn.
    6. Wright, Mike & Wood, Geoffrey & Musacchio, Aldo & Okhmatovskiy, Ilya & Grosman, Anna & Doh, Jonathan P., 2021. "State capitalism in international context: Varieties and variations," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 56(2).
    7. Sean Glynn & Alan Booth, 1983. "Unemployment in Interwar Britain: A Case for Re-learning the Lessons of the 1930s?," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 36(3), pages 329-348, August.
    8. Michael Schwan & Christine Trampusch & Florian Fastenrath, 2021. "Financialization of, not by the State. Exploring Changes in the Management of Public Debt and Assets across Europe," Review of International Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(4), pages 820-842, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ilias Alami & Heather Whiteside & Adam D Dixon & Jamie Peck, 2023. "Making space for the new state capitalism, part II: Relationality, spatiotemporality and uneven development," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 55(3), pages 621-635, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ilias Alami & Adam D Dixon, 2023. "Uneven and combined state capitalism," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 55(1), pages 72-99, February.
    2. Stephen, Matthew D. & Parízek, Michal, 2019. "New Powers and the Distribution of Preferences in Global Trade Governance: From Deadlock and Drift to Fragmentation," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 24(6), pages 735-758.
    3. Ricz, Judit & Sallai, Dorottya & Sass, Magdolna, 2024. "The role of the state in shaping the internationalization of firms in the twenty-first century," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 121380, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    4. Martin Sokol, 2023. "Financialisation, central banks and ‘new’ state capitalism: The case of the US Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank and the Bank of England," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 55(5), pages 1305-1324, August.
    5. Dani Rodrik, 2018. "Populism and the economics of globalization," Journal of International Business Policy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 1(1), pages 12-33, June.
    6. Vigvári, Gábor, 2022. "Transzformáció és a populizmus a visegrádi országokban [Transformation and populism in the V4 countries]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(3), pages 339-366.
    7. Cohen, Joseph N., 2008. "Managing the Faustian bargain: monetary autonomy in the pursuit of development in Eastern Europe and Latin America," MPRA Paper 22435, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Sean D. Ehrlich & Christopher Gahagan, 2023. "The Multisided Threat to Free Trade: Protectionism and Fair Trade During Increasing Populism," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 11(1), pages 223-236.
    9. Álvaro Santos, 2023. "International Investment Law in the Shadow of Populism: Between Redomestication and Liberalism Re‐Embedded," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 11(1), pages 203-213.
    10. Kono Daniel Y., 2011. "Insuring Free Trade: Unemployment Insurance and Trade Policy," Business and Politics, De Gruyter, vol. 13(3), pages 1-31, October.
    11. Yaroslav Rosokha & Chen Wei, 2024. "Cooperation in Queueing Systems," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 70(11), pages 7597-7616, November.
    12. Xia, Ying & Chen, Muyang, 2023. "The Janus face of stateness: China's development-oriented equity investments in Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    13. Adelle BLACKETT & Colleen SHEPPARD, 2003. "Collective bargaining and equality: Making connections," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 142(4), pages 419-457, December.
    14. Liesbet Hooghe & Tobias Lenz & Gary Marks, 2019. "Contested world order: The delegitimation of international governance," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 14(4), pages 731-743, December.
    15. Amy A. Quark & Rachel Lienesch, 2017. "Scientific boundary work and food regime transitions: the double movement and the science of food safety regulation," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 34(3), pages 645-661, September.
    16. Lennard, Jason & Paker, Meredith M., 2026. "Devaluation, Exports, and Recovery from the Great Depression," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 86(1), pages 258-286, March.
    17. Johannes Urpelainen, 2012. "How Does Democratic Accountability Shape International Cooperation?," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 29(1), pages 28-55, February.
    18. Andreas Bergh & Anders Kärnä, 2022. "Correction to: Globalization and populism in Europe," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 192(1), pages 193-199, July.
    19. Xiao, Shufeng & Yu, Tianjiao, 2024. "Underperformance duration and R&D internationalization: Institutional contingencies in an emerging economy," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 33(4).
    20. Loewen, Howard, 2006. "Towards a Dynamic Model of the Interplay Between International Institutions," GIGA Working Papers 17, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:55:y:2023:i:1:p:122-142. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.