This book explores the politics of local economic development in Northern England. Socio-economic conditions in the North - and its future prospects - have become central to national debates in the UK. The status of Northern regions and their local economies is intimately associated with efforts to 'rebalance' the economy away from the South East, London and the finance sector in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. The contributors to this volume focus in particular on the coalition and Conservative governments' 'Northern Powerhouse' agenda. They also analyse associated efforts to devolve power to local authorities across England, which promise to bring both greater prosperity and autonomy to the deindustrialized North. Several chapters critically interrogate these initiatives, and their ambitions, by placing them within their wider historical, geographical, institutional and ideological contexts. As such, Berry and Giovannini seek to locate Northern England within a broader understanding of the political dimension of economic development, and outline a series of ideas for enhancing the North's prospects.

The "globalization" concept has become ubiquitous in British politics, as it has in many countries of the world. This exciting new book examines discourse on foreign economic policy to determine the impact of globalization across the ideological landscape of British politics. The book critically interrogates the assumption that the idea of globalization is derivative solely of neo-liberal ideology by profiling the discourse on globalization of five political groups involved in making and contesting British foreign economic policy between 1997 and 2009: New Labor, International Financial Services London, the Liberal Democrats, Oxfam and the Socialist Workers Party. In addition to the relationship between neo-liberalism and globalization, it also explores the core meaning of the idea of globalization, the implications for the principle of free trade, the impact on notions of the state, nation-state and global governance, and whether globalization means different things across the ideological spectrum. Topically, the book examines how the responses to the global financial crisis have been shaped by globalization discourse and the value of ideology as an analytical concept able to mitigate debates on the primacy of material and ideational explanations in political economy. It will be of vital use to students and scholars of global economic change, financial crisis, the state, the impact of globalization on national governance, and those interested in ideological change.

Craig Berry assesses UK economic policy in the wake of the financial crisis through the lens of the austerity agenda, focusing on monetary policy, economic rebalancing, industrial and regional policy, the labour market, welfare reform and budgetary management. He argues that austerity is geared towards a resurrection of financialisation and the UK's pre-crisis economic model, through the transformation of individual behaviour and demonisation of the state. Cutting public spending and debt in the short term is, at most, a secondary concern for the UK policy elite. However, the underlying purpose of austerity is frequently misunderstood due to its conflation with a narrow deficit reduction agenda, not least by its Keynesian critics. Berry also demonstrates how austerity has effectively dismantled the prospect of a centre-left alternative to neoliberalism.

Private pensions provision in the UK is in crisis, yet it is not the crisis often depicted in political and popular discourses. While population ageing has affected traditional pensions practice, the imperilment of UK pensions is due in fact to the peculiar way policy-makers have responded to wider social and economic change. Pensions are a mechanism for managing failed futures, yet this function is being impeded by the individualization of provision. This book offers a political economy perspective on the development of private pensions, focusing specifically on how policy elites have sought to respond to perceived crises of demographic change, under-saving, and fund deficits, and in doing so have absorbed imperatives to subject individuals to a market-led regime under the influence of neoliberal ideology. This terrain is explored through chapters on the historical and comparative context of UK pensions provision, the demise of collectivist provision, the rise of pensions individualization and the state's role as facilitator and regulator in this regard, and the financial and economic context in which pensions provision operates. By placing the UK system in a comparative context of pensions reform agendas across the world, this book offers an original understanding of the unique temporality and materiality of pensions provision as a set of mechanisms for coping with generational change and forecast failures in capitalist economies. It also presents a nuanced account of the extent to which the state acts to anchor the process of pensions rematerialization and, crucially, concludes by outlining a coherent and radical programme of progressive pensions reform.

Does the UK still have an industrial strategy? How should we understand the renewed interest within government in industrial policy - and now its apparent reversal - in recent years? This collection of essay by leading academics and practitioners including Victoria Chick, Kate Bell, Simon Lee, Karel Williams, Susan Himmelweit, Laurie Macfarlane and Ron Martin - among many others- considers the effectiveness of recent industrial policies in addressing the UK's economic malaise. In offering a broad political economy perspective on economic statecraft and development in the UK, the book focuses on the political and institutional foundations of industrial policy, the value of "foundational" economic practices, the challenge of greening capitalism and addressing regional inequalities, and the new financial and corporate governance structures required to radicalize industrial strategy.

Does the UK still have an industrial strategy? How should we understand the renewed interest within government in industrial policy - and now its apparent reversal - in recent years? This collection of essay by leading academics and practitioners including Victoria Chick, Kate Bell, Simon Lee, Karel Williams, Susan Himmelweit, Laurie Macfarlane and Ron Martin - among many others- considers the effectiveness of recent industrial policies in addressing the UK's economic malaise. In offering a broad political economy perspective on economic statecraft and development in the UK, the book focuses on the political and institutional foundations of industrial policy, the value of "foundational" economic practices, the challenge of greening capitalism and addressing regional inequalities, and the new financial and corporate governance structures required to radicalize industrial strategy.