Ailing Britannia

The dreary tale of recurring economic crises, especially in the years since World War II, forms the backdrop for this painstaking and perceptive analysis of evolving relations between government and industry in Britain. The study's concern is not directly with the state of the British economy or with the quality of its management by postwar labor and conservative governments. It is rather with the consequences for private industry of the immensely expanded role of government in the modern welfare state. Nevertheless, the account of economic events does nothing to contradict the view that Britain is a very sick country or - what is even more distressing - that decades of activist intervention have yielded no noteworthy improvements in diagnosing its ills or prescribing useful remedies. The economy languishes, the policies remain the same - and nothing on the horizon offers reasonable prospects of relief.

It is a truism nowadays that the massive extension of the government's involvement in economic affairs has blurred traditional distinctions between polity and economy, outmoding earlier notions of the independence or separateness of public and private sectors. Professor Blank traces in fascinating detail how this continuing shift in the British system has influenced the attitudes and values of industrialists, and especially their views on the proper organized response (as revealed in the activities of the Federation of British Industries). His study illuminates many of the questions that trouble us today, in America as much as in Britain. Is there a unified business interest the economic power of which dominates public policy making? Does self-regulation offer a reliable means of controlling private decisions in the public interest? Has the regulatory reach of government shorn industrial interests of their independence and power?

Professor Blank answers these questions largely in the negative. He finds, for example, that the so-called business interest is in fact so highly fragmented and sectional that divisive forces continually threaten the solidarity of the inclusive organization and inhibit policy initiatives on many important issues. On the matter of "social responsibility," the weight of the evidence supports the judgment that significant departures from self-interested behavior impose severe strains on private organizations and are unlikely to be reflected in stable patterns without forceful assistance from government. Finally, on the issue of autonomy, Professor Blank concludes that while detailed regulation constrains freedom of action, successful regulation - because it depends on the consent and cooperation of those regulated - leads not so much to the dominance of public over private power as to a shared authority in the conduct of economic affairs.

Not everyone will agree with the author's findings on these and related questions. They raise issues where emotion runs strong. Whether the reader agrees or not, however, he will profit from testing his views against Professor Blank's carefully - and persuasively - argued position.

GOVERNMENT AND INDUSTRY IN BRITAIN. By StephenBlank '61. D.C. Heath, 1973.256 pp. $13.50.

Mr. Macdonald is Professor of Business Administration at the Tuck School.