Germany, France and postwar democratic capitalism : expert rule /

"This book concentrates on the political economies of Germany and France in the period spanning between the end of World War II and the 1970s, with a subsequent consideration of Italy and Britain as "shadow cases". European postwar accounts have never reconciled the thwarting of wides...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Godard, François, 1963- (Author)
Corporate Author: Taylor & Francis
Format: eBook
Language:English
Published: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2024.
Series:Routledge studies in modern European history; 106
Subjects:
Online Access:Connect to the full text of this electronic book
Description
Summary:"This book concentrates on the political economies of Germany and France in the period spanning between the end of World War II and the 1970s, with a subsequent consideration of Italy and Britain as "shadow cases". European postwar accounts have never reconciled the thwarting of widespread aspirations to socialism, and the twin feat of equalitarian growth and institutional stability. This success is precisely due to achieving the reconciliation of democracy and economic management, the yearning for collective control over social and material outcomes that was tragically aborted in the interwar period, and fed 1945 expectations. Germany, in 1948-49, and France, in 1958, carried radical institutional and policy reforms with much more in common than previously realised. Under the recast republics, social groups were steered towards support for modernisation - by the state, not through a mythical settlement. Consensus was built for trade and low inflation as vectors for higher productivity. State capacity was lifted by leadership in ideas, executive branch accountability to voters, and technocratic agencies. British and Italian underperformances reveal the countries' uneasiness with the compact. Once understood, the convergence of productivism and democracy in the European regulatory state provides a new narrative - especially relevant today - of experts taming populists"--
Physical Description:1 online resource.
Bibliography:Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN:9781040090305
1040090303
9781003214809
1003214800
9781040090299
104009029X