Is Britain Dying? : Perspectives on the Current Crisis / Isaac Kramnick.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Kramnick, Isaac, Editor.

Series:

Western Societies Papers Occasional Papers

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource (320 p.) : 5 illustrations

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Ithaca, NY : Cornell University Press, [2019]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

Mountains of garbage in Leicester Square; racial conflict in the cities; terrorist bombings and assassinations; civil servants refusing to work; futile negotiations between labor and management, and a government impotent to aid them: these recent scenes characterize the plight of modern Britain. A model of vital and efficient world power at the start of this century, Britain today seems hardly able to maintain stability in its own proper domain, as Scotland considers the merits of independence and Northern Ireland engages in ever more violent civil conflict.In this timely collection of essays, distinguished scholars and politicians (including former prime minister Edward Heath) probe the source and nature of Britain's apparent ills. Are those ills, they ask, symptoms of rapid social decline or are they inevitable spasms brought about by Britain's struggle to achieve new and innovative patterns of life in the postindustrial age? Placing Britain's current methods of handling its social problems in the context of British history and traditions, the contributors set forth their views on Britain's economy, domestic politics, world position, and problematic future.As Isaac Kramnick points out in his introductory overview of the British crisis, Britain's ability to reconcile bureaucracy and social welfare with an Anglo-Saxon concept of freedom will carry great significance for the United States. Whether our national ancestor is dying or not, who stands to learn more from Britain's struggles than the nation that shares so much of its heritage?

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Preface

1. Introduction: The Making of a Crisis

2. A Tory View

3. A Socialist View

4.The Heath Years: Some Further Thoughts about Union Influence

5. Britain’s Economic Problems: Lies and Damn

6. Britain’s Relative Economic Decline: A Reply to Stephen Blank

7. Was Guy Fawkes Right?

8. Women and Equality in Britain

9. The Americanization of British Politics

10. A State of Desubordination

11. From Scotland with Love

12. Erosion of the Periphery

13. Whose Crisis?: Britain as an International Problem

14. The Pax Britannica and British Foreign Policy

15. The Future of Britain’s Crisis: A Political Analysis

16. Toward 1984: George Orwell and Today’s Britain

Contributors

Index

Notes:

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 23. Jul 2020)

ISBN:

1-5017-3868-2

OCLC:

1178769514