A Major Crisis?

This book analyzes the Major governments in the context of the global political economy. In contrast to the extensive literature on the Thatcher period, commentators have been very cautious in interpreting British politics in the early 1990s. The specific focus is on the politics of economic policy, which is raised in theoretical and policy terms. The authors analyze economic policy making under Major in the context of the global recession and examine the Major governments against the background of postwar British governments. This perspective provides unique insights into the politics of Britain's short-lived membership in the European Exchange Rate Mechanism and into trade union and welfare issues as well as relations between central and local government. The placing of Major governments within the context of postwar British governments provides a distinctive approach to the problems of economic policy making in Britain from reconstruction to the European Union.