Why Britain’s attempt at small government proved unable to cope with the challenges of the modern world
In the nineteenth century, as Britain attained a leading economic and political position in Europe, British policymakers embarked on a bold experiment with small and limited government. By the outbreak of the First World War, however, this laissez-faire philosophy of government had been abandoned and the country had taken its first steps toward becoming a modern welfare state. This book tells the story of Britain’s laissez-faire experiment, examining why it was done, how it functioned, and why it was ultimately rejected in favor of a more interventionist form of governance.
Blending insights from modern economic theory with a wealth of historical evidence, W. Walker Hanlon traces the slow expansion of government intervention across a broad spectrum of government functions in order to understand why and how Britain gave up on laissez-faire. It was not abandoned because Britain’s leaders lost faith in small government as some have suggested, nor did it collapse under the growing influence of working-class political power. Instead, Britain’s move away from small government was a pragmatic and piecemeal response—by policymakers who often deeply believed in laissez-faire—to the economic forces unleashed by the Industrial Revolution.
"Using a combination of historical evidence and insights from modern economic theory, this book analyzes the consequences that broader economic changes-industrialization, globalization, the rising importance of education, and conscription-had upon a country committed to small and unobtrusive government. Hanlon examines how these changes forced government action: industrialization led to environmental regulation, urbanization led to improvements in public goods, and globalization led to both improved physical and financial infrastructures. Since then, Hanlon writes, modern developed countries have universally adopted a larger and more interventionist form of government as a result. Hanlon argues that by providing a framework for classifying and analyzing these economic forces that drove the expansion of government, we can begin to consider how the role of government might evolve in the future-only by understanding the role these forces played in creating the modern welfare state can we begin to think about how these ongoing changes are likely to influence the future role of the state"-- Publisher.
