Economic and Political Aspects of Britain - Essay Example

Social Policy Hutton’s The We are In and the impact of gentlemanly values on the Economic And Political aspects of Britain. Social Policy 1 The post-war Britain has been facing enormous changes through out the years. The economic and political areas have undergone a crisis with lot of changes in it. But what seems to be the most striking feature of Britain is its status in the world. The two World Wars consequently had brought a heavy loss in the materialistic and man power, however Britain stood in a leading spot among other nations in their trade and industrial activities. The peculiarity of Britain is well seen in its imperialistic outlook and dominating spirit. The facts behind the industrial success and the reducing degree of materialism in the present years show that Britain is still not releasing a common trend of treatment towards their people and other immigrants. Many books and articles were written based on these crises. The most notified is that of W.Hutton’s “The State We Are in”. Certain arguments made by Hutton were welcomed by historians and analysts and certain gave way to a number of controversies. The main points which Hutton wants to emphasize are the shor-termism existing in Britain’s economy, The factors leading to that and what could be the solution to eradicate the short-termism. Before going deep into the arguments the existing situation of Britain’s state ant the relationship of the state with the individual and the range of activities of the state should be looked out. During the course of years Britain had been witnessing a series of crises they are o unemployment problem, housing for the slums, fall of export rates in the economic field etc. Social Policy 2 The 1920’s saw more industries such as motor and electrical industries but then failed to cater to the standards expected in the world market. On the other side the percentage of unemployment was also gradually increasing. The rate of exports has come down by 50%. But by 1980’s with the intrusion of Margret Thatcher the United Kingdom has become the place of leading trade and financial power. The various state enterprises were given the status of nationalized enterprises. In general the purpose of the state was expected to enhance a better and moral life for its citizens and the standard of the state also depends on the moral behavior of its citizens. But Britain seemed to have had an imbalanced relationship between its state and citizens. The best illustration could be of the worst housing conditions for the poor and the unfulfilled desires of the state to renew their locality and buildup of houses. There was definitely a failure faced by Britain in the housing matters as a result there was only an increase in the slum houses could be seen. Many political writers and reviewers were of the opinion that a strong and active participation of the citizens in the social and the political activities will turn the state a better place for higher quality of life for the citizens. Of course the proposal of certain movements such as “Settlement Movement” and “Charity of Organizational Society;” came with a tremendous change in the emphasized relationship between the state and the citizens. These movements have paved the way for looking at citizens as a part of a whole group, which was absent before. Social Policy 3 The following comment contributed by Abramovitz will help in understanding the growth of relationship between the state and citizens. “Neither the broad views that people hold about the lights and obligations of people, and about the relations among classes nor the political and economic institutions in which the view are embodied are grand constants” [Abramovitz.Moses, ”Thinking about ………Welfare”]. More over the relationship between he people and the state were found to be in an enforced agreement. Britain is found as a leading place of class and caste consciousness .The division existed among the people are of nobility and working class, where as the middleclass were formed of business men and professionals. The relationship between the workers and the employers remained hostile. On the other side the UK government claims its superiority as a member in the European Parliament. The economics of European Nations has declared Euro as the common currency for all its trade and industrial export and an import activity where as Britain still stands fourth in the world exchange rates in spite of showing an increase in income inequality and increased poverty rate. Though being a member in the European Union Britain has a common law, decree and statutes. Where as all the countries that come under the European Union have a common law for Agriculture, Fishery, Finance etc,. Britain had a constitutional monarchy in which the Monarchy stands as the head and that will exercise the role of judiciary, executive and legislative powers. Each state works under the common judiciary of the Monarchy. In Britain each state is looked upon as a nation. Social Policy 4 The British states had many crisis such as internal terrorism [which is nothing but the nationalistic movements of carious nature], immigration [nearly 25%percentage of immigrants seems to have occupied the total population of Britain. The legal system and the criminal judiciary remained the same in Britain. The intervention of the states in economic and political matters is very less and this is also a major cause in the decline of economic level in Britain. At this point Hutton’s argument should be noted down . He has to say the following “the British companies make their existing stock of capital work hard and give high productivity”[Hutton, “ The State We Are In”1996] What he means to say is that though Britain gives high productivity and high return has failed to equal the labor payments. The concept of short -termism may lead to a take over of better chances by other long-termist countries like Germany and Japan,, Which are already a threat to other countries of the world. Roderic Moore has to say the following in connection with terminating short termism. According to him Britain needs a three point plan to combat short termism “a. abolish capital gains tax b. ensure that the taxation system does not discriminate between dividends and reinvested profits. c. reform company laws, that companies cannot buy shares in other companies.” [Moore, Roderick. “Short-Termism in British Industry. The State of the Debate”] Social Policy 5 In connection with this idea Hutton too has an supportive comment, though written before the debate.”We would all get benefits if British companies invested more in research, development and training “[Hutton.W. “The State We Are In” 1996]. While comparing the employment relations, the link between the relationship of the workers and employers, corporate governance and management revolves around a major link in a maximum path. The system of pension provisions too has faced a crises due to the short-termism. In other words the Pension provisions have been pressurized towards short- termism Moore has one more opinion over this condition that “these pressurized conditions may discourage investment in human capital” and more over “externalized financial systems are likely to lead to externalized employment relationships”[Moore, Roderick. “Short-Termism in British Industry…..Debate”]. What he means actually is that in such a pressurized conditions emphasis will be laid on dragging trained labours from out side the country. Coming to the functioning of Banks, there seemed to be a lot of partial working system. Banks were functioning in favor of the city not in favor of the individuals. The banks supplied enormous financial support to stock exchange and industries and the worst hit were the employees. The point “gentlemanly values” in capitalism with which Britain claims to be its special feature has reflected only its failure side rather than success. Though Globalization is taking part in almost all the countries, yet appears to be lacking in Britain, where capitalism has strong foundation. “The Neo-liberalism and the long term crisis of Japanese economy Social Policy 6 during 1990’s Western European Economy and Anglo-American stress on the free market”[misc.activism.proggessive]. But the neo-liberalism has its own drawbacks, in the sense instability of the financial system and uncontrolled decisions in replacing international capital movements. This has given way for worst condition in the living style of the workers and the pension provisions were given less benefits. The divided nature of British capitialism as Cain and Hopkins says also contributes to the cause. Britain is a place of capitalist outlook has failed to reach the level of equality to all kinds of its citizens because either the credits or the turnovers have been utilized commonly. The state seem to be benefited than the common people. There lies its capitalism. In a recent interview with Amartya Sen and Melvin Bragg , Hutton has strong points in favor of the worst condition of the poor people in Britain who are deprived of their benefits and as a result how they have been deprived of the social activities. The reason which he incorporates to that of the partial focus of the state. “Thats right,I mean because when you get high levels of inequality,thats not happened as a matter of chance,its because the system is working in a way to produce those levels of inequality,and without rights,the mass of people who are poor cannot challenge the political economy thats produced that level of inequality,” [“In Our Time”, Programme 58] On the whole it is crystal clear that though Britain is declared as advanced in finance it has failed to meet the ends, in the sense the city and the state are the most profit enjoying fields Social Policy 7 where as the fruit of the labors is definitely not given to the workers .Hutton, though gives certain solutions as intervention of the state in all the industrial matters and modification of the industrial laws, still a practical application will take a long time to commensurate equality. And the supposed gentlemanly values are totally missing in the economic and political condition of Britain. REFERENCES http://chronicle.com/free/v49/i29/29b007d.html “In Our Time, Programme 58”’htt pwww.fortunecity.com/emachines/e11/86/iotm/iotm58/rtf. Hutton, Will. “The State We are In”. Moore, Roderick. ”Short-Termism in British Industry: The State of the Debate” .online www.liberarian.co.uk/lapubs/econn/econn088.pdf Moses, Abramovitz. “Thinking about Growth:And other Essays on Economic Growth and Welfare”. Online. http://books.google.co.in/books?. Williamson, Phillip. “The British government and the city of London in the Twentieth Century” Cambridge Catalouge. Online.www.cambridge.org/uk/catalogue. “New Labors Role in the Neo Liberal Order”. online . misc.activism.progressive. online.w http://groups.google.co.in/group/misc/activism-progressive/brouse-thread. www.reference.com/browse/wikie/Great _Depression_in_the_United _Kingdom . www.reference.com/browse/wikie/Economic_History_of_Britain “British Economy”. Online. http://lies.berkeley.edu/research/titles/SASO4/SASO4- \ British_Transformed.pdf http://wikipedia/freeencyclopedia/Economy_of_United_Kingdom Read More