Publisher Description

The right and the recession considers the ways in which conservative activists, groupings, parties and interests in the US and Britain responded to the financial crisis and the 'Great Recession' that followed in its wake. The book looks at the tensions and stresses between different ideas, interests and institutions and the ways in which they shaped the character of political outcomes. In Britain, these processes opened the way for leading Conservatives to redefine their commitment to fiscal retrenchment and austerity. Whereas public expenditure reductions had been portrayed as a necessary response to earlier overspending they were increasingly represented as a way of securing a permanently 'leaner' state. The book assesses the character of this shift in thinking as well as the viability of these efforts to shrink the state and the parallel attempts in the US to cut federal government spending through mechanisms such as the budget sequester. -- .

Flap

The right and the recession considers the ways in which conservative activists, groupings, parties and interests in the US and Britain responded to the financial crisis and the 'Great Recession' that followed in its wake. The book not only outlines events and developments but argues that the tensions and stresses between different ideas, interests and institutions were pivotal in structuring the character of political outcomes. Thus, within the US, the forms of policy pursued by Republicans and their efforts to block President Obama's agenda were for the most part shaped by the tensions between the Tea Party movement and established Republican Party elites. In Britain, the stresses between the Cameron government's civic conservatism and more established Conservative constituencies opened the way for populist challenges and enabled the United Kingdom Independence Party to gain much more of a political foothold. At the same time, they opened a way for the Conservative leadership to reframe its commitment to fiscal retrenchment and austerity. When the Conservatives took office in 2010, the public expenditure cuts were portrayed as a necessary response to earlier overspending. Increasingly, however, retrenchment was represented as a way of securing a permanently 'leaner' state. The book assesses the character of this shift in thinking as well as the viability of efforts to shrink the state and the parallel attempts in the US to cut federal government spending through mechanisms such as the budget sequester. It suggests that although the right may succeed in reducing the size and scale of state social provision, the state is likely to reassert itself in the longer-term.

Author Biography

Edward Ashbee is an Associate Professor in the Department of Business and Politics at Copenhagen Business School

Table of Contents

Introduction
1. Charting the right
2. Intercurrence and its implications
3. The state and processes of change
4. Embedded neoliberalism
5. The advent of crisis and the building of narratives
6. Rallying round the Gadsden flag
7. Britain, austerity and the 'Big Society'
8. Chafing, abrasion and the contemporary right
9. A permanently leaner state?
Index

Promotional

Considers the ways in which conservative activists, groupings, parties and interests in the US and Britain responded to the financial crisis and the 'Great Recession' that followed in its wake.

Long Description

The right and the recession considers the ways in which conservative activists, groupings, parties and interests in the US and Britain responded to the financial crisis and the 'Great Recession' that followed in its wake. The book looks at the tensions and stresses between different ideas, interests and institutions and the ways in which they shaped the character of political outcomes. In Britain, these processes opened the way for leading Conservatives to redefine their commitment to fiscal retrenchment and austerity. Whereas public expenditure reductions had been portrayed as a necessary response to earlier overspending they were increasingly represented as a way of securing a permanently 'leaner' state. The book assesses the character of this shift in thinking as well as the viability of these efforts to shrink the state and the parallel attempts in the US to cut federal government spending through mechanisms such as the budget sequester.

Description for Sales People

Surveys conservative policy responses to the economic crisis Provides a comparative study of political processes and developments in the US and Britain during the financial crisis and the 'Great Recession'Offers a multi-leveled assessment of the right considering activists, groupings, parties, interests, ideas and institutionsAssesses the efforts of the contemporary right to create a 'leaner', restructured state

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