Official Responses to Juvenile Delinquency in Scotland During the Second World War

This article addresses the official responses by various governmentalagencies and departments to the perceived increase in juvenilecrime—seen mainly as a male phenomenon—in Scotlandduring the Second World War. The war forced administrators toboth contest and affirm current ideas about the punishment andtreatment of juvenile offenders at a time of crisis when nationalunity was a concern. Experts saw the problem of delinquencyas related to the breakdown of family life and the social disorganizationcaused by war conditions. The war also reinforced experts’fears about the lack of citizenship among school children andteenagers. There was consequently considerable discussion aboutrecreational facilities available for children and young adults.As a result this study reveals the indistinct boundaries betweenjuvenile crime, youth culture and welfare during World War IIin Scotland.     

Capital Assistance for Small Firms: Some Implications for Regional Economic Welfare

This paper analyzes the role of finance capital in regional economic development. A cost‐benefit approach is invoked in order to estimate the welfare impacts of a regional loan and guarantee program for small firms in Israel. Program‐created employment is treated as a benefit and an employment account that separates net from gross employment, is presented. An estimate of net wage benefits is then derived. This involves adjusting wages across different earnings classes in order to account for the variation in opportunity costs of labor at different levels. The estimation of costs includes the opportunity costs of capital, administration, default, and tax‐raising costs. Results point to substantial regional welfare effects. We stress the need to account for changing regional economic structure in this kind of evaluation framework.     

Richard Crossman, Harold Wilson and devolution, 1966-70: the making of government policy

This article expands our understanding of devolution, the Britishconstitution, the Wilson government of 1966–70 and thecareers and attitudes of Richard Crossman and Harold Wilson.It shows that devolution was debated not as a simply ‘Celtic’affair, but as part of a long-standing Labour concern with reformingthe ‘machinery of government’. This interest—expressedby Crossman amongst others—became submerged by other eventsand pressures. Perceived nationalist successes and the conflictingaims of (divided) Labour parties in Scotland and Wales pushedout Crossman's little-studied desire to replace ‘nationaldevolution’ with regional devolution across the UK. Wilsonadopted the delaying tactic of a Royal Commission on the Constitution.Using a wide range of private, governmental and Labour sourcesfrom across the UK, the article shows the interchange of policydebate between London and the ‘Celtic fringe’. Inthe process, the article reveals both national tensions anda commitment to Britishness, stemming from shared policy interestsand also from wider cultural influences.     

Best practice? Geography, learning and the institutional limits to strong convergence

According to many, we live in an age in which convergence betweenformerly distinct national ‘models’ is taking place.Central to this process is a learning dynamic in which bestpractices originating from within one model—Japan in the1980s, United States in the 1990s—are supposedly adoptedby firms elsewhere. This paper addresses two key questions concerningthis process. First, what are the actual mechanisms or processesthrough which this learning-driven convergence might occur?Second, what role do institutions play in shaping, influencing,or constraining firms' choice of practices and their abilityto ‘learn’? The paper examines eight specific channelsof convergence representing a continuum of opportunities forlearning-through-interacting. It then assesses critically arange of competing arguments about the role of institutionalinfluences at three different scales: the region, the nation-state,and the firm. It concludes that while regional and firm-levelarguments, on their own, do not provide an adequate explanatoryframework for understanding how firms' practices are determined,national level theory needs to be made supple enough to accommodatea significant role for regional institutions and the agencyof the firm.     

Radar and Air Defence in the 1930s

The article sets out to demonstrate that radar played a central,but hitherto unrecognized, role in the formation of Britishair policy during the 1930s. It is generally conceived thatthe secret of radar was stumbled across, as if by accident,in early 1935, and was then employed to devastating effect inthe Battle of Britain. The article, however, shows that thedesire for an effective instrument for air defence had gestatedduring the First World Wart—when Britain sought to fightoff the Zeppelin and Gotha bombing raids—and the searchcontinued throughout the 1920s and early 1930s. Moreover, theprinciple of radar had been known since 1904, but scientificbackwardness precluded practical progress. There is detailedexamination of the intricate political manoeuvring by PrimeMinister Stanley Baldwin and others which accompanied the adoptionof radar as Britain's primary line of defence against the Luftwaffein preference to the increasingly obsolete doctrine of bomberdeterrence. In conclusion, radar was deliberately developed,and consciously conceived of, as a device that would be slottedinto a proved framework of observation and organization constructedon top of Britain's First World War air defence system.     

The Labour Party and the League of Nations: The Socialist League's Role in the Sanctions Crisis of 1935

When the Labour Party—influenced by the NEC and the TUCGeneral Council—decided to support League of Nations sanctionsagainst Italy in 1935 this signalled its recognition that itwas necessary to challenge the fascist dictators with collectiveforce. The way in which this decision marked the discreditingof pacifism within the Labour Party has been fully examined.The Socialist League—the organ of the Labour left—alsounsuccessfully opposed the sanctions policy. Nevertheless, existingaccounts have focused on its chairman, Cripps, and his refusalto trust the ‘capitalist’ and ‘imperialist’National Government to impose sanctions. Instead, this articleconsiders the Socialist League as a whole and highlights divisionsthat emerged within it over sanctions. The official SocialistLeague line demanded ‘mass resistance’ against theNational Government. However, a sizeable minority—particularlythose with overtly pro-Soviet affinities—decided to supportcollective security now that the Soviet Union had joined theLeague of Nations. These internal divisions seriously weakenedthe Socialist League case. They explain how the NEC–TUCwas able so conclusively to defeat its radical anti-capitalistarguments, thereby gaining a fuller mandate with which to developits policy of armed collective security before the Second WorldWar.     

British Railways and the Challenge from Road Haulage: 1919-39

Interwar Britain witnessed the rapid rise of road transportas a serious competitor to the railways. This article examinesroad–rail competition for freight traffic. It demonstratesthat, contrary to previous accounts—which have been highlycritical of the railway companies—their failure to preventrapid loss of traffic to the roads was the inevitable consequenceof the regulatory framework under which the railways had beenreturned to private control in 1921. Given the constraints imposedby this framework, price competition with road hauliers wouldhave further depressed railway company profits. Railway policythus concentrated on pressing for a revision of the legislativeframework governing road–rail competition.     

Second‐Order Devolution and Administrative Exclusion in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program

With the passage of welfare reform in 1996, state and local governments gained substantial authority to design and implement their own welfare programs. Proponents of devolution asserted that, under devolution, local governments would be better able to tailor program administration to meet local economic needs. However, opponents contended devolution could lead to local governments seeking to control costs by limiting access to welfare. Meanwhile, existing research suggests that economics will not play an important role in determining welfare provision. This article investigates these competing claims by assessing the relationship between economic conditions and administrative exclusion, which is making programs so hard to access that potential and current recipients decide to forgo benefits, in a state that gives counties significant authority over welfare provision. To do so, I assess whether county application denial, sanctioning, and case closure rates are influenced by changes in local economic characteristics. I find that, even during periods of substantial economic distress, county practices related to administrative exclusion are largely unresponsive to changes in unemployment, child poverty, and fiscal constraints. These findings call into question the responsiveness of the devolved social safety net for poor families.     

Revisionism Reconsidered: 'Property-owning Democracy' and Egalitarian Strategy in Post-War Britain

Revisionist socialists of the 1950s and 1960s are typicallydepicted as advocates of the ‘Keynesian welfare state’route to economic equality. This article argues that this isan oversimplification: while the revisionists supported thewelfare state, they also aimed to promote equality by redistributingprivate property and expanding social ownership, endorsing anegalitarian version of a ‘property-owning democracy’.The article first discusses the political ideals and calculationsthat motivated the revisionists’ interest in this modelof egalitarian strategy and then examines in turn the threemutually reinforcing strands of policy that this goal generated:greater progressive taxation of wealth; measures to diffuseprivate property ownership and access to marketable skills;and the expansion of novel forms of social ownership.     

区域生态经济规划若干问题研究

区域生态经济规划的研究工作在我国始于20世纪80年代,起步较晚,仍处于初级阶段。本文从规划的主要对象、指导思想、理论依据、追求目标、所处阶段等方面比较了区域生态经济规划的差异,指出区域生态经济规划必须遵循整体性、区域性、市场经济、技术进步与创新、三效益并重统一、以人为本等基本原则,论述了区域生态经济规划的基本内容和编制程序,最后对编制好区域生态经济规划提出了三条建议,即:①加强领导,组织强有力的规划队伍;②抓住关键问题,不要面面俱到;③因地制宜,从实际出发。     

MAJORITY AND MINORITY NATIONALISM IN THE DANISH POST‐WELFARE STATE

The future of the nation and the Danish welfare state is one of the most important political issues today. The transition in neoliberal governance from welfare state to security state, the ongoing securitization of global and European mobility, the restructuring of public services and the re‐scaling of political and economic power has made the debate around the welfare state central. In this article I take an approach to the welfare nation state that is based on the practices and narratives of everyday life. The argument is that narrative practices in everyday life constitute a central sphere inviting studies of the struggle over the welfare community and meaning. The empirical material draws on two recent research projects that include narratives and perspectives from minority and majority population in Denmark. By analysing different perspectives on the nation the article intends to open up for both shared narratives on the welfare state but also differences in the ongoing struggle over the right to the nation.     

1932: A Neglected Date in the History of the Decline of the British Liberal Party

There is an historical consensus that the decline of the BritishLiberal Party, whenever it began, was essentially complete by1929 or 1931 at the latest. This article suggests that the possibilityof a Liberal revival still existed in the early 1930s, but thatit was thwarted by the formalization of divisions between Liberalsand Liberal Nationals which took place in 1932. These divisionswere not accidental, but the result of clear calculations onthe part of the Liberal National leadership. It is further arguedthat the events of this year were important in determining theelectoral politics of the following three decades—dominationby a Conservative party which set out to stress its ‘liberal’credentials and to persuade the electorate that it was the logicalrepository for the country's still significant ‘Liberalvote’. Meanwhile, an independent Liberal Party survived,but one which was far smaller and less electorally powerfulthan might have been the case if the party had remained united.     

The Politics of Citizenship in 1940s Britain: The British Nationality Act

The article examines the enactment of the British NationalityAct, 1948. The legislation created a legal status—Citizenshipof the UK and Colonies—that included Britons and ‘colonial’British subjects under a single definition of British citizenship,and entrenched their right to enter the UK. Between 1948 and1962, some 500, 000 non-white British subjects entered underthe legislation, despite documented evidence of elite suspicionof non-white Commonwealth migration. The article argues thatthis apparent contradiction can only be understood by examiningthe legislation in the context of past migration patterns andBritain's international position in 1948. The legislation wasonly marginally related to migration; it was rather an attemptto maintain a uniform definition of subjecthood in the faceof Canada's unilateral introduction of its own citizenship,and it was an affirmation of Britain's place as head of a Commonwealthstructure founded on the relationship between the UK and theOld Dominions. ^* For comments on earlier drafts, I owe my thanks to John Dorwin,Katie Goebs, Iain McLean, and Desmond King.     

Whose Opinion?: Changing Attitudes Towards Opinion Polling in British politics, 1937-1964

This article examines the early history of opinion polling inBritish politics, focusing on the initial antagonism to pollingmethods within the political and media elite in the 1930s, andthe gradual integration of polling into the political systemafter World War II. It rejects the technological determinismof scholars who assume that the adoption of opinion pollingfollowed naturally on the creation of such methodology; andinstead focuses on the time-lag between the advent of pollingand its integration into political life. While not an explicitlycomparative study, a major question which this study considersis why were British politicians and publishers so much slowerto embrace opinion research than their American counterparts?In answering this question, this article examines various structuralfeatures of the British political system, cultural assumptionsabout parliamentary politics, and specific historical aspectsof the advent of opinion polling in Britain which affected thereception of the new methodology. While this article concludesthat structural factors—namely the return of a competitivetwo-party system after the Second World War—ultimatelyled the political parties to experiment with opinion polling,this article argues that continued ambivalence about the useof poll data can only be understood through a considerationof the cultural and historical circumstances surrounding theintroduction of polling.     

The Historical Impact of Welfare Programs on Poverty: Evidence from the American States

Over the years, there has been a spirited debate over the impact of the welfare expansion associated with the War on Poverty. Many analysts have maintained that public assistance expansion during this period decreased poverty by raising the incomes of the poor (an income enhancement effect), while others have contended that welfare expansion increased poverty by discouraging the poor from working (a work disincentive effect). There has been considerable empirical research about the historical effect of welfare on poverty, nearly all of which relies on the poverty rate (i.e., the percentage of persons with income less than the “poverty threshold”) as an indicator of the extent of poverty. However, this work has not employed designs that allow researchers to sort out distinct income enhancement and work disincentive effects. We develop a model of poverty rates in the American states that permits estimation of these distinct effects—based on state‐level time‐series data observed annually for the years 1960–90—and we find that welfare had both effects during our period of analysis. We also calculate the net impact of increases in welfare benefits on the poverty rate—taking into account both work disincentive and income enhancement effects. Our results indicate that this net impact is dependent on three variables: the initial level of cash benefits, wage levels for unskilled workers, and the share of the benefit increase provided through cash rather than in‐kind assistance. Because of historical trends in these variables, since the 1970s welfare spending has become increasingly less effective in reducing the poverty rate. However, the significance of this result for policymakers must be tempered by evidence that flaws in the poverty rate as an indicator of poverty make it so that any finding about the net effect of an increase in welfare benefits on the poverty rate underestimates welfare's ability to lessen the true extent of poverty.     

'Claudia Jones and the West Indian Gazette': Reflections on the Emergence of Post-colonial Britain

In this article the specifically domestic and cultural propertiesof British decolonization are explored. It is suggested thatthe very category of ‘post-colonial Britain’ invitesus to think in these terms. Conventionally, the question ofthe domestic consequences of decolonization is thought in termsof the native white population of Britain. This article turnsattention to the role of the black migrants resident in themetropolis during the years of decolonization: most especially,to the role of West Indians. By a reading of the West IndianGazette it is proposed that the West Indian migrant played anactive role in the organization of a specifically anti-colonialculture—providing the means by which white Britons, too,could come to terms with the end of Empire.     

The Bush administration and Asia Pacific multilateralism: unrequited love?

This article challenges the presumed multilateral aversion of the George W. Bush administration. It argues that, at least in its approach toward the Asia-Pacific, this administration has been a more active and stimulatory advocate of multilateral approaches than is commonly acknowledged. The article begins by documenting the Bush administration's multilateral activism in the Asia-Pacific and examines those factors which appear to have contributed towards it. It then goes on to demonstrate, however, that Bush's at times unexpected enthusiasm for multilateral approaches has encountered a high degree of regional reticence. For a part of the world that has been affording an increased prominence to multilateral institutions and activities, this finding is initially both surprising and significant. The article concludes by seeking to account for this apparent anomaly and by considering its possible implications for the emerging regional architecture.     

An Unequal Apportionment: The Conflict over Space Between Protestants and Catholics at the Beginning of the Wars of Religion

Although theological and political aspects of the Wars of Religionhave been extensively studied, their spatial dimension has oftenbeen neglected. Despite the plethora of urban monographs, spacehas been considered as the setting rather than the object ofconflict. On account of its scarcity, space brought a varietyof benefits and accordingly generated strategies of appropriationand exclusion for which the two confessions were unequally prepared.If Charles IX was the first to ‘tolerate’ Protestants,he almost always confined them to domestic space or excludedthem from the centre of towns. Employing a sociology of dominationdrawn from the work of Pierre Bourdieu, this article seeks toexamine the unequal situation of the two confessions from aspatial perspective, refusing to explain this difference solelyby recourse to theological concepts. On the contrary, it attemptsto show how, in a manner that requires explanation, socioconfessionalinequalities were transformed into spatial ones.

The space which before any other seems to me to raise the problemand manifest just that strong social and historical differentiationbetween societies is the space of exclusion—of exclusionand imprisonment. Michel Foucault, La scène de la philosophie(1978)¹

     

Three's a Crowd?: Government, Owners, and Workers during the Nationalization of the British Coalmining Industry 1945-47

The passing of the coalmining industry into public ownershipon 1 January 1947 should have been an occasion for rejoicingby the Labour Party and its supporters, yet celebrations weremuted by the looming shadow of critical coal shortages Despitethis concurrence of nationalization and coal crisis, littleattention has been focused on possible linkages between thetwo events. More generally, scant consideration has been givento the question of what happened to the industry when facedwith nationalization. This article's principal argument is thatthe fuel crisis was rooted not (as other historians have argued)in the atrocious weather, but in the very process of nationalization—or,rather in the combination of a lack of preparation for publicownership and (even more importantly) in the preoccupation withnationalization at the expense of the ‘stabilization’of the industry before entering the uncharted waters of publicownership. The chief conclusion is that during the run-up toVesting Day neither miners nor owners had any substantial incentiveto improve industrial productivity and output The period wasat best a standstill, and in many ways—as the crisis indicated—wastedmonths that a fuel-starved Britain could ill afford ^*This article is based on my MA thesis, ‘Fresh Start orFalse Dawn⁷ the coalmining Industry and Nationalisation, 1945–7'I would like to thank my supervisors, Ranald Midne and PhilipWilliamson for their continued support, and also David Howelland the referees of Twentieth Century British History for theirvaluable comments on earlier drafts of this work.