Detailed and comprehensive, this book has three basic objectives. First, it describes the key political and economic decisions or events which have shaped Britain's economic performance in the post-war period. Secondly, the authors critically discuss the range of explanations which have been offered by those seeking to understand Britain's relative economic decline. Finally, it offers an alternative approach to improving Britain's economic performance known as 'the strategic alignment of national and corporate competitiveness'. In this approach the authors attempt to escape from the traditional left right debate concerning the degree to which the state should replace the market in owning and controlling key sectors of the economy, and instead they focus on the state as a facilitator in the provision of assets required by firms competing in the international arena.

This book will be welcomed by government and management striving to improve corporate and national competitiveness. Additionally academics and students interested in the fields of British politics, British political economy, British economic and social history, international political economy and European political economy will also find this a highly valuable source of information.