Capitalism and the emergent world order

The two‐centuries‐old hegemony of the West is coming to an end. The ‘revolutions of modernity’ that fuelled the rise of the West are now accessible to all states. As a consequence, the power gap that developed during the nineteenth century and which served as the foundation for a core–periphery international order is closing. The result is a shift from a world of ‘centred globalism’ to one of ‘decentred globalism’. At the same time, as power is becoming more diffuse, the degree of ideological difference among the leading powers is shrinking. Indeed, because all Great Powers in the contemporary world are in some form capitalist, the ideological bandwidth of the emerging international order is narrower than it has been for a century. The question is whether this relative ideological homogeneity will generate geo‐economic or geopolitical competition among the four main modes of capitalist governance: liberal democratic, social democratic, competitive authoritarian and state bureaucratic. This article assesses the strengths and weaknesses of these four modes of capitalist governance, and probes the main contours of inter‐capitalist competition. Will the political differences between democratic and authoritarian capitalists override their shared interests or be mediated by them? Will there be conflicting capitalisms as there were in the early part of the twentieth century? Or will the contemporary world see the development of some kind of concert of capitalist powers? A world of politically differentiated capitalisms is likely to be with us for some time. As such, a central task facing policy‐makers is to ensure that geo‐economic competition takes place without generating geopolitical conflict.     

Financial crises and the balance of power in international finance, 1890–2010

Has the centre of gravity of international finance irreversibly started to shift from the Atlantic to the Pacific since the financial debacle of 2007-2008? This article discusses this highly topical question in a historical perspective, by considering previous changes in the balance of power in international finance and the role played by global financial in these changes. Particular attention is paid to the Baring Crisis of 1890, the American Panic of 1907, the financial crisis of July -August 1914, the banking crises of the Great Depression of the 1930s, the financial instability of the early 1970s and the ensuing banking failures, the International Debt Crisis of 1982, and the Japanese Banking Crisis of 1997-8. The article concludes that financial crisis, perhaps surprisingly, did not lead to clear changes in the balance of power in international finance; and that the financial debacle of 2007-8 is unlikely, in the medium-term, to fundamentally alter the current order.     

Is the Globalization Consensus Dead?

Abstract: The development economist Dani Rodrik recently declared that “the globalization consensus is dead”. The claim has momentus implications, because this consensus has steered economic policy around the world for the past quarter century. It emanates from the heartland of neoclassical economics, and defines the central tasks of the Washington‐based organizations which claim to speak for the world. This essay answers two main questions. First, is Rodrik's claim true, and by what measures of “consensus”? Second, to the extent that the consensus has substantially weakened, is the state returning to the heart of economic life, as Karl Polanyi might have predicted? The answers? First, the globalization consensus about desirable economic policy has weakened, though it is far from “dead”. Second, the western state is returning to the heart of economic life in response to the current global economic crisis, but will retreat soon after national economies recover—because unless the crisis becomes a second Great Depression, the norms of more free markets and more global economic integration will be politically challenged only at the margins. New rules of finance may be introduced, but with enough loopholes that by 2015 Wall Street and the City will operate in much the same way as in the recent pre‐crisis past.     

Market Creation by Leninist Means: The Regulation of Financial Services in the People’s Republic of China

Abstract

Within the process of China’s transition from a centrally-administered to a more market-oriented economy, financial services have played a very special role, but in a counter-intuitive way: what looks like Western market economics turns out to be a Leninist regulatory model. Even as international financial service providers and regulatory communities are invited to play a role in the creation of a Chinese market in financial services, the Communist Party has strengthened its control of top personnel, the judiciary and the media. The reform of the central bank and the establishment of technically independent regulatory agencies seemed to have taken China down the path of OECD economies. The model of a very specific post-regulatory state with Chinese characteristics, however, has not fully incorporated the notion of private authority. Such an acceptance would pose a threat to the CCP monopoly on political power. The attempt to use only semi-private organisations to develop financial markets undermines the long-term stability of the political and economic order.     

The Australian 2016 Defence White Paper,great-power rivalry and a ‘rules-based order’: an imagined correspondence between Carr,Bull and Bell

This piece is an imagined email correspondence between three renowned international relations scholars, E. H. Carr, Hedley Bull and Coral Bell, who are discussing the Australian 2016 Defence White Paper. The purpose of such an exercise is to reflect on the ‘big-picture’ international relations questions posed by what might otherwise be thought of as a relatively technical defence policy document. In particular, the correspondence between the three focuses on the central importance of the White Paper’s assumptions of a ‘rules-based global order’ and the relationship between this order and US power. In their time, all three authors spoke directly to questions of power, law and order in their scholarly work, which had been deeply influenced, in all three cases, by periods spent working at the ‘coalface’ of these issues in government in Britain and Australia. As such, Carr, Bull and Bell have much to say about how Australia is positioning itself for a post-unipolar world.     

Geneva's future: reflections on the role of a values‐based city

In a world where most of the great cities are heavily branding themselves to compete for lucrativebusiness, political and sporting events, what future role is there for an international values‐based city like Geneva? This article reflects on the history of ideas that have taken root in Geneva over the centuries and suggests how they might be actively re‐positioned to give the city continuing relevance in the coming century. It looks at eleven political and practical ideas that have hadimportant manifestations in Geneva and have been embodied in some of its international organizations, notably: freedom of movement; free thinking; political self‐determination; compassionate warfare; peace and trade among others. It then argues that, in order to survive as a leading international city, Geneva must develop real expertise on these big‐hitting political issues, improve its ability to deliver on them and create a dynamic alliance of other internationalist valuesbased cities around the world which can mobilize similar concerns and embody a similarly Genevan model of international space.     

Global multipolarity,European security and implications for UK grand strategy: back to the future,once again

The international system is returning to multipolarity—a situation of multiple Great Powers—drawing the post‐Cold War ‘unipolar moment’ of comprehensive US political, economic and military dominance to an end. The rise of new Great Powers, namely the ‘BRICs’—Brazil, Russia, India, and most importantly, China—and the return of multipolarity at the global level in turn carries security implications for western Europe. While peaceful political relations within the European Union have attained a remarkable level of strategic, institutional and normative embeddedness, there are five factors associated with a return of Great Power competition in the wider world that may negatively impact on the western European strategic environment: the resurgence of an increasingly belligerent Russia; the erosion of the US military commitment to Europe; the risk of international military crises with the potential to embroil European states; the elevated incentive for states to acquire nuclear weapons; and the vulnerability of economically vital European sea lines and supply chains. These five factors must, in turn, be reflected in European states’ strategic behaviour. In particular, for the United Kingdom—one of western Europe's two principal military powers, and its only insular (offshore) power—the return of Great Power competition at the global level suggests that a return to offshore balancing would be a more appropriate choice than an ongoing commitment to direct military interventions of the kind that have characterized post‐2001 British strategy.     

How Japan matters in the evolving East Asian security order

This article argues that Japan matters crucially in the evolving East Asian security order because it is embedded both in the structural transition and the ongoing regional strategies to manage it. The post‐Cold War East Asian order transition centres on the disintegration of the post‐Second World War Great Power bargain that saw Japan subjecting itself to extraordinary strategic constraint under the US alliance, leaving the conundrum of how to negotiate a new bargain that would keep the peace between Japan and China. To manage the uncertainties of this transition, East Asian states have adopted a three‐pronged strategy of: maintaining US military preponderance; socializing China as a responsible regional great power; and cultivating regionalism as the basis for a long‐term East Asian security community. Japan provides essential public goods for each of these three elements: it keeps the US anchored in East Asia with its security treaty; it is the one major regional power that can and has helped to constrain the potential excesses of growing Chinese power while at the same time crucially engaging with and helping to socialize China; and its economic and political participation is critical for meaningful regionalism and regional integration. It does not need to be a fully fledged, ‘normal’ Great Power in order to carry out these roles. As the region tries to mediate the growing security dilemma among the three great powers, Japan's importance to regional security will only grow.     

试论魏玛"福利国家"的早期实践(1918-1920)

一战结束后,德国社会遭遇了政治、经济与社会的多重危机,政府权力亟待合法性认同,社会期稳定。魏玛政府力图把福利国家作为控制与解决危机的一种手段。1918-1920年间,魏玛的福利国家建设曾规范劳动市场、协调劳资关系、改革保险和救济政策、解决住房问题以及调整经济运作模式等方面掀起高潮从短时段看,这些实践活动确立了基本的福利国家原则,维护了政府权威,初步解决了战后德国的社会危机然而从长时段看,这一时期的福利实践存在许多问题,埋下了日后经济危机、社会危机乃至民主危机的隐患。     

Crises and policy responses within the political trilemma: Europe, 1929–36 and 2008–11

The recent debate on the Eurozone failed to appreciate a particular characteristic of European crisis experiences, namely their fundamentally political character. To make my argument, I borrow from Dani Rodrik (2000) the framework of a “political trilemma” between cross-border economic integration, national institutions and democracy (in the sense of mass politics) and discuss its relation to the more commonly known “macroeconomic trilemma” as well as some limitations of the framework. The recent experience of a European debt crisis and the experience of Europe's Great Depression can be interpreted as a “political trilemma”: both reflect the problem of designing effective policy responses to major economic shocks within the environment of deep economic integration across political boundaries and the regime choices that this involves. Within this framework I highlight some aspects of the 1930s that are informative to the policy choices in Europe today. Once we accept that some policy choices should be avoided, attention should be shifted to the remaining options and the obstacles that prevent their implementation, notably the challenge to transform democracy beyond national borders.     

Book reviews

Book reviewed in this issue. International Relations theory Theory of world security. By Ken Booth. The powers to lead. By Joseph S. Nye Jr. Human rights and ethics Just politics: human rights and the foreign policy of Great Powers. By C. William Walldorf, Jr. The responsibility to protect: ending mass atrocity crimes once and for all. By Gareth Evans. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR): the politics and practice of refugee protection in the twenty‐first century. By Gil Loescher, Alexander Betts and James Milner. International law and organization New world disorder: the UN after the Cold War: an insider's view. By David Hannay. The United Nations Security Council and war: the evolution of thought and practice since 1945. Edited by Vaughan Lowe, Adam Roberts, Jennifer Welsh and Dominik Zaum. McMafia: crime without frontiers. By Misha Glenny. Conflict, security and armed forces The five front war: the better way to fight global jihad. By Daniel Byman. Analyzing intelligence: origins, obstacles, and innovations. Edited by Roger Z. George and James B. Bruce. Politics, democracy and social affairs Alpha dogs: how political spin became a global business. By James Harding. International democracy assistance for peacebuilding: Cambodia and beyond. By Sorpong Peou. Political economy, economics and development International political economy: an intellectual history. By Benjamin J. Cohen. Unravelling Gramsci: hegemony and passive revolution in the global political economy. By Adam David Morton. Too poor for peace? Global poverty, conflict, and security in the 21st century. Edited by Lael Brainard and Derek Chollet. Orderly change: international monetary relations since Bretton Woods. Edited by David M. Andrews. Ethnicity and cultural politics The many faces of political Islam: religion and politics in the Muslim world. By Mohammed Ayoob. Islam in Europe: diversity, identity and influence. Edited by Aziz Al‐Azmeh and Effie Fokas. Energy and environment The crisis of global environmental governance: towards a new political economy of sustain‐ability. Edited by Jacob Park, Ken Conca and Matthias Finger. History Thinking beyond the unthinkable: harnessing doom from the Cold War to the age of terror. By Jonathan Stevenson. The Cuban missile crisis and the threat of nuclear war: lessons from history. By Len Scott. One day that shook the communist world: the 1956 Hungarian uprising and its legacy. By Paul Lendvai. Europe The European Union and border conflicts: the power of integration and association. Edited by Thomas Diez, Mathias Albert and Stephan Stetter. What's wrong with the European Union and how to fix it. By Simon Hix. The Albanian question: reshaping the Balkans. By James Pettifer and Miranda Vickers. Middle East and North Africa Beyond the façade: political reform in the Arab world. Edited by Marina Ottaway and Julia Choucair‐Vizoso. The Arab center: the promise of moderation. By Marwan Muasher. Muqtada al‐Sadr and the fall of Iraq. By Patrick Cockburn. Sub‐Saharan Africa When things fell apart: state failure in late‐century Africa. By Robert H. Bates. African counterterrorism cooperation: assessing regional and subregional initiatives. Edited by Andre Le Sage. Gender and genocide in Burundi: the search for spaces of peace in the Great Lakes Region. By Patricia O. Daley. Asia and Pacific Contemporary debates in Indian foreign and security policy: India negotiates its rise in the international system. By Harsh V. Pant. China's struggle for status: the realignment of international relations. By Yong Deng. China's ascent: power, security and the future of international politics. Edited by Robert S. Ross and Zhu Feng. Strong borders, secure nation: cooperation and conflict in China's territorial disputes. By M. Taylor Fravel. India: the rise of an Asian giant. By Dietmar Rothermund. North America Undeclared war and the future of US foreign policy. By Kenneth Moss. What happened: inside the Bush White House and Washington's culture of deception. By Scott McClellan. Latin America and Caribbean Ecuador and the United States: useful strangers. By Ronn Pineo. Fidel's ethics of violence: the moral dimension of the political thought of Fidel Castro. By Dayan Jayatilleka.     

Book reviews

International Relations theory Handbook of political theory. Edited by Gerald F. Gaus and Chandran Kukathas. What is political theory? Edited by Stephen K. White and J. Donald Moon. International ethics In the shadow of ‘just wars’. Edited by Fabrice Weissman. Foreign relations Parting ways: the crisis in German–American relations. By Stephen F. Szabo. Engaging India: diplomacy, democracy, and the bomb. By Strobe Talbott. Conflict, security and armed forces Men, militarism and UN peacekeeping: a gendered analysis. By Sandra Whitworth. Politics, democracy and social affairs Out of evil: new international politics and old doctrines of war. By Stephen Chan. The United States and the Great Powers: world politics in the twenty‐first century. By Barry Buzan. World cities beyond the West: globalization, development and inequality. Edited by Josef Gugler. Ethnicity and cultural politics The ethics of identity. By Kwame Anthony Appiah. International and national political economy, economics and development World trade governance and developing countries: the GATT/WTO code committee system. By Kofi Oteng Kufuor. Energy and environment The international climate change regime: a guide to rules, institutions and procedures. By Farhana Yamin and Joanna Depledge. History Caught in the Middle East: US policy toward the Arab–Israeli conflict, 1945–61. By Peter L. Hahn. Support any friend: Kennedy's Middle East and the making of the US–Israeli alliance. By Warren Bass. Armies without nations: public violence and state formation in Central America 1821–1960. By Robert H. Holden. Europe Reinvigorating European elections: the implications of electing the European Commission. By Julie Smith. Himself alone: David Trimble and the ordeal of unionism. By Dean Godson. David Trimble: the price of peace. By Frank Millar. The myth of ethnic war: Serbia and Croatia in the 1990s. By V. P. Gagnon, Jr. Cyprus: the search for a solution. By David Hannay. The Turks today. By Andrew Mango. Russia and the former Soviet republics Russia's engagement with the West: transformation and integration in the twenty‐first century. Edited by Alexander J. Motyl, Blair A. Ruble and Lilia Shevtsova. The Russian military: power and policy. By Steven E. Miller and Dmitri Trenin. Reforging the weakest link: global political economy and post‐Soviet change in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. Edited by Neil Robinson. Middle East and North Africa Cradle of Islam: the Hijaz and the quest for an Arabian identity. By Mai Yamani. Checkpoint syndrome. By Liran Ron Furer. Sub‐Saharan Africa Africa unchained: the blueprint for Africa's future. By George Ayittey. Durable peace: challenges for peacebuilding in Africa. Edited by Tasier M. Ali and Robert O. Matthews. The political economy of AIDS in Africa. Edited by Nana K. Poku and Alan Whiteside. Africa in international politics: external involvement on the continent. Edited by Ian Taylor and Paul Williams. Africa at the crossroads: between regionalism and globalization. Edited by John Mukum Mbaku and Suresh Chandra Saxena. Designing West Africa: prelude to 21st century calamity. By Peter Schwab. Islamism and its enemies in the Horn of Africa. Edited by Alex de Waal. Rethinking the rise and fall of apartheid. By Adrian Guelke. Engaging Africa: Washington and the fall of Portugal's colonial empire. By Witney W. Schneidman. Asia and Pacific Modern Afghanistan: a history of struggle and survival. By Amin Saikal. The idea of Pakistan. By Stephen Philip Cohen. Pakistan's drift into extremism: Allah, the army, and America's war on terror. By Hassan Abbas. State and society in 21st‐century China: crisis, contention, and legitimation. Edited by Peter Hays Gries and Stanley Rosen. China's new order: society, politics, and economy in transition. By Wang Hui. The river runs black: the environmental challenge to China's future. By Elizabeth C. Economy. North America America right or wrong: an anatomy of American nationalism. By Anatol Lieven. American power in the 21st century. Edited by David Held and Matthias Koenig‐Archibugi. The sorrows of empire: militarism, secrecy, and the end of the republic. By Chalmers Johnson. Latin America and Caribbean Cuba: a new history. By Richard Gott. Mercosur: between integration and democracy. Edited by Francisco Domínguez and Marcos Guedes de Oliveira.     

The ‘China model’ and the global crisis: from Friedrich List to a Chinese mode of governance?

The global financial crisis reinvigorated ongoing debates over whether China has its own distinct and separate ‘model’ of political economy and/or development. There is much that connects this Chinese model with previous systems of national political economies; partly in terms of specific policy preferences, but also in terms of shared basic conceptions of the distribution of power in the global order. Like these previous systems, China has come to stand as an example of an alternative to following dominant (neo‐)liberal models of development. In this respect, what the China model is not and what China does not stand for might be more important than what it actually is and what it does stand for. However, the idea of a coherent and unique Chinese model has considerable purchase, and is both informed by and also feeds into considerations of China's uniqueness and difference from the norms, ideas and philosophies that dominate the rest of the world.     

Poo wars as matter out of place: ‘Toilets for Africa’ in Cape Town (Respond to this article at http://www.therai.org.uk/at/debate)

In this editorial the author looks at poo protests in South Africa as political in various ways, comparing it to the Great Stink of London in the 19^th century.     

Book reviews

International Relations theory From international to world society? English School theory and the social structure of globalisation. By Barry Buzan. The West, civil society and the construction of peace. By Mikkel Vedby Rasmussen. International ethics Just intervention. Edited by Anthony F. Lang, Jr. The tragic vision of politics: ethics, interests and orders. By Richard Ned Lebow. International law and organization Great Powers and outlaw states: unequal sovereigns in the international legal order. By Gerry Simpson. The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia: an exercise in law, politics, and diplomacy. By Rachel Kerr. Foreign relations The choice: global domination or global leadership? By Zbigniew Brzezinski. Worse than Watergate: the secret presidency of George W. Bush. By John W. Dean. The bubble of American supremacy: correcting the misuse of American power. By George Soros. The new mandarins of American power: the Bush administration's plans for the world. By Alex Callinicos. The new imperialism. By David Harvey. Incoherent empire. By Michael Mann. Yankee no! Anti‐Americanism in US‐Latin American relations. By Alan McPherson. Conflict, security and armed forces State building: governance and world order in the twenty‐first century. By Francis Fukuyama. Nation‐building unraveled? Aid, peace and justice in Afghanistan. Edited by Antonio Donini, Norah Niland and Karen Wermester. Grand strategy in the war against terrorism. Edited by Thomas R. Mockaitis and Paul B. Rich. Politics, democracy and social affairs Soft power: the means to success in world politics. By Joseph S. Nye, Jr. Political parties and terrorist groups. By Leonard Weinberg and Ami Pedahzur. International and national political economy, economics and development Free trade for the Americas? The United States' push for the FTAA agreement. Edited by Paulo Vizentini and Marianne Wiesebron. International trade and developing countries: bargaining coalitions in the GATT and WTO. By Amrita Narlikar. Energy and environment Man‐made global warming: unravelling a dogma. By Hans Labohm, Simon Rozendaal and Dick Thoenes. History Colossus: the rise and fall of the American empire. By Niall Ferguson. The Labour Party and the world, volume 1: the evolution of Labour's foreign policy 1900–51. By Rhiannon Vickers. The CIA, the British Left and the Cold War: calling the tune? By Hugh Wilford. Europe Through the paper curtain: insiders and outsiders in the new Europe. Edited by Julie Smith and Charles Jenkins. Yugoslavia: when ideals collide. By Ann Lane. The Kosovo crisis and the evolution of post‐Cold War European security. By Paul Latawski and Martin A. Smith. Yugoslavia unravelled: sovereignty, self‐determination, intervention. Edited by Ragu G. C. Thomas. Russia and the former Soviet republics Inside Putin's Russia. By Andrew Jack. The law and politics of the Caspian Sea in the twenty‐first century: the positions and views of Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, with special reference to Iran. By Bahman Aghai‐Diba. Middle East and North Africa A history of modern Palestine: one land, two peoples. By Ilan Pappe. Saudi Arabia enters the twenty‐first century: the political, foreign policy, economic, and energy dimensions. By Anthony H. Cordesman. Saudi Arabia enters the twenty‐first century: the military and international security dimensions. By Anthony H. Cordesman. Reformers and revolutionaries in modern Iran: new perspectives on the Iranian Left. Edited by Stephanie Cronin. Sub‐Saharan Africa Africa since independence. By Paul Nugent. The shackled continent: Africa's past, present and future. By Robert Guest. Worlds of power: religious thought and political practice in Africa. By Stephen Ellis and Gerrie ter Haar. A continent for the taking: the tragedy and hope of Africa. By Howard W. French. Asia and Pacific China's democratic future: how it will happen and where it will lead. By Bruce Gilley. North America America alone: the neo‐conservatives and the global order. By Stefan Halper and Jonathan Clarke. Latin America and Caribbean The Southern Cone model: the political economy of regional capitalist development in Latin America. By Nicola Phillips. Constructing democratic governance in Latin America. 2nd edn. Edited by Jorge I. Dominguez and Michael Shifter. Opening Mexico: the making of a democracy. By Julia Preston and Samuel Dillon.     

The Transylvanian promise: political mobilisation,unfulfilled hope and the rise of authoritarianism in interwar Romania

This article addresses the relationship between political mobilisation by raising hope for change and the increasing loss of confidence in democratic order in the Romanian transformation process after the First World War from a regional perspective. The survey focuses on the political discourse of the Transylvania-based National Party (from 1926 the National Peasants’ Party), which gained governmental power in 1928 through regionalist activism, benefiting from a multi-stranded discourse of permanent crisis caused by living conditions that could not meet the expectations of social advancement raised by the general enthusiasm about the emergence of ‘Greater Romania’. Unable to fulfil its promises of fundamental political change and economic recovery after a century of failed transformation, the Transylvanian-led government’s failure marks the moment of another profound disappointment, which saw the public discourse on political order turn more and more towards strengthening the concept of ‘authority’.     

Ireland. : Economics and the Reinventing of a Nation

Ireland is experiencing a fundamental transition in its economic life, one that has affected all levels of Irish society. The transition in living conditions and personal expectations and, at another level, in Ireland's contribution to a globally interdependent world is fueled by changes taking place in the structure and performance of the Irish economy. This article looks at Ireland's economic development over time—essentially a restructuring of its economic base and international outlook—the changes evident, present conditions, and the problems encountered. It concludes by looking at the nation's future prospects and its ability to sustain what some have referred to as an "economic miracle."     

20世纪30年代初中国知识界的社会主义思潮

1929-1933年的经济危机使西方资本主义世界陷入经济、政治、信仰危机的深渊.资本主义的吸引力日益削弱;而这时社会主义国家苏联的第一个五年计划却取得了辉煌成绩,创造了"孤岛繁荣"的奇迹,社会主义的魅力迅速彰显;在危机打击下,资本主义国家加强对华经济掠夺,日本则悍然发动侵华战争,中华民族危机陡然增加.这些因素构成30年代初中国知识界社会主义思潮兴起的直接诱因.中国知识界的社会主义思潮在苏联完成"一五计划"和欧美经济危机最严重的1932-1933年间达到高潮,其后,由于民族危机加深、民族主义思潮高涨而逐渐趋向低落,并最终被掩盖于抗日战争的浪潮之下.概言之,中国知识界的社会主义思潮大致可以分为热谈苏联和社会主义、探讨苏联"一五计划"成功的原因以及追求社会主义三个既有联系而内涵又各有不同的层次.与五四时期的社会主义思潮相比较,30年代初的社会主义思潮带有浓厚的计划经济气息和缺少理论上的建树两个显著特点.     

Keynes’s legacy: an intellectual’s influence reflected in arts policy

As Western governments re‐examine the economic policies of John Maynard Keynes to solve a global financial crisis believed to be almost as severe as the Great Depression, this article examines his influence on arts policy. The article articulates and examines the central assumptions that underlie the arm’s length policy model, such as Keynes’s preference for semi‐autonomous non‐governmental bodies, and locates the sources of those assumptions and ideas in Keynes’s political philosophy and his involvement in higher education. Knowing this history enables policymakers and arts administrators to recognize how contemporary policy still reflects this thinking.