The Strange Survival of 'Embedded Liberalism': National Economic Management and Globalization in Britain from 1944

Abstract

This article examines the fate of national economic management in Britain in the face of the growing economic international interdependence, which initially grew in the context of the 'Bretton Woods institutions', and continued apace up until the crisis of 2007-8. It frames the argument with the concept of 'Embedded Liberalism', which allows to examine in detail the evolution of key elements of the Bretton Woods settlement, their subsequent development, and how far these shifts led to a 'race to the bottom' in national policies. On the basis of arguments about the continuing viability of national economic management, it questions how far we should accept a story of 'the short life of social democracy' as a wholly accurate account of Britain since the 1970s.