Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- List of contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- PART I
- 1 Political structures and grand strategies for the growth of the British economy, 1688–1815
- 2 Economic factors and the building of the French nation-state
- 3 Nation building in Germany: the economic dimension
- 4 The harmony liberal era, 1845–1880: the case of Norway and Sweden
- 5 Nationalism in the epoch of organised capitalism – Norway and Sweden choosing different paths
- 6 Economic development and the problems of national state formation: the case of Spain
- PART II
- PART III
- PART IV
- PART V
- Index
- References
1 - Political structures and grand strategies for the growth of the British economy, 1688–1815
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 September 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- List of contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- PART I
- 1 Political structures and grand strategies for the growth of the British economy, 1688–1815
- 2 Economic factors and the building of the French nation-state
- 3 Nation building in Germany: the economic dimension
- 4 The harmony liberal era, 1845–1880: the case of Norway and Sweden
- 5 Nationalism in the epoch of organised capitalism – Norway and Sweden choosing different paths
- 6 Economic development and the problems of national state formation: the case of Spain
- PART II
- PART III
- PART IV
- PART V
- Index
- References
Summary
The interest of the King of England is to keep France from being too great on the continent and the French interest is to keep us from being masters of the sea.
Sir William Coventry, 1673STATE AND ECONOMY, 1688–1815
After the Glorious Revolution of 1688, a stable political regime gradually emerged. Within the ‘kingdoms’ of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland, as well as the empire, over which the state exercised jurisdiction, private investors remained responsible for capital formation. Private businessmen (not civil servants) organized production, distribution and exchange. Businessmen and investors looked to central government for the provision of security. They expected to be protected from risks emanating from warfare on British soil or in home waters around the isles. From the time of the Interregnum onwards, an influential minority of traders, shippers, brokers, bankers, insurers, planters and investors engaged with the international economy expected the state to become proactive in defence of their ships, merchandise and wealth located beyond the borders of the kingdom. After William III took the throne they pressured their rulers to use diplomacy and armed force to extend opportunities for British enterprise overseas.
Somehow a succession of aristocratic governments (uninvolved in any direct way with trade and industry) managed to sustain political and legal conditions that turned out on balance to be conducive to the rise of the most efficient industrial market economy in Europe.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Nation, State and the Economy in History , pp. 11 - 33Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2003
References
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