The Political Economy of State Intervention: Conserving Capital over the West's Long Depression

Neoliberalism's dominance of market forces is challenged by The Political Economy of State Intervention, which argues that the state has played an increasingly significant role in conserving capital and propping up an economic and social order that has lost its productive dynamism. Factors such as oil price shocks, domestic conditions, and technological innovation are usually posited as explanations for the long depression, but the book argues that the consensus view of neoliberalism has underplayed the significance of the states role in failing to lift this long depression. This has led to the insecurities of the existing political order and the rise of populism.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 240 pages
Publication date: 30 May 2022
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Both the supporters and detractors of neoliberalism argue that market forces hold sway in Western nations. The Political Economy of State Intervention challenges this notion. By examining state intervention in the United States and Britain during the long depression (1970-present), this book makes the case that the state has assumed an increasingly significant role in conserving capital, supporting an economic and social order that has lost its productive dynamism. While the specific forms of capital's dependence on the state may vary, the underlying weaknesses of mature Western economies have prompted new forms of state intervention aimed at conserving capital, particularly in the aftermath of the financial crisis. The chapters explore factors commonly cited as explanations for the long depression, including oil price shocks, domestic conditions, and technological innovation. The work argues that the prevailing consensus view of neoliberalism has downplayed the significance of the state's role in failing to alleviate this prolonged depression in several ways: it has provided a greater ideological coherence to the policies pursued by successive governments than they merit; the state has been less subordinate to the market than commonly assumed and more often its creator; and there has been a substantial growth in private-sector jobs funded by public money. The cumulative effect of these factors is a narrowing of the state's purpose to conserving capital, which has contributed to its loss of authority as an institution that purports to represent society as a whole. It is theorised that this, in turn, has led to the insecurities of the existing political order and the rise of populism.

This book holds significant appeal to students.

Dimension: 234 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780367622985