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Party Politics, Political Economy and British Protectionism, 1919–1932
Author(s) -
Garside W. R.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
history
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.12
H-Index - 15
eISSN - 1468-229X
pISSN - 0018-2648
DOI - 10.1111/1468-229x.00062
Subject(s) - protectionism , politics , great depression , tariff , economics , political economy , depression (economics) , economic policy , political science , market economy , economy , international economics , keynesian economics , law
Recent consideration of the proximate causes of Britain's fiscal turnaround in 1932 has given rise to two polarized views. The adoption of the tariff is seen on the one hand as the almost inevitable outcome of mounting protectionist pressures in the post‐1918 period, and on the other as a direct reaction to the economic and financial crises generated by the world depression. This article undertakes a further review of the commercial policy debate. It traces the rise of protectionist sentiment in the aftermath of the First World War, identifies the immediate problems generated by the depression of the early thirties, and assesses the extent to which either or both developments offer an adequate explanation of why free trade was abandoned in 1932 and not before. The imposition of protection is seen as the result of a conjunction between a long‐term shift in attitude within the Conservative Party, buttressed by growing support for tariffs in labour, business and financial circles by 1930, and the fiscal crisis of 1931–2, allowing a dominant political party to capitalize upon a symbiotic fusion of political impetus and economic rationale.