This book questions conventional accounts of the history of European integration and British business. Integration accounts normally focus on the nation-state, while Neil Rollings focuses on business and its role in the development of European integration, which business historians have previously overlooked. Business provided a key link between economic integration, political integration, and the process of Europeanization. British businessmen perceived early on that European integration meant much more than the removal of tariffs and access to new markets. Indeed, British entry into the European community would alter the whole landscape of the European working environment. Consideration of European integration is revealed as a complex, relative, and dynamic issue, covering many issues such as competition policy, taxation, and company law. Based on extensive archival research, this book uses the case of business to emphasize the need to blend national histories with the history of European integration.

This book provides both a comprehensive introduction and a perceptive examination of Britain’s relations with the European Community and the European Union since 1945, combining an historical account with political analysis to illustrate the changing and multifaceted nature of British and European politics. Few issues in British politics since 1945 have generated such heated controversy as Britain’s approach to the process of European integration associated with the European Union. The long-running debate on the subject has not only played a major part in the downfall of prime ministers and other leading political figures but has also exposed major fault-lines within governments and caused deep and rancorous divisions within and between the major political parties. This highly contested issue has given rise to bitter campaigning in the press and between pressure groups, and it has bemused, confused and divided the public at large. Key questions addressed include: Why has Europe had such an explosive impact on British politics? What impelled British policymakers to join the European Community and to undertake one of the radical, if not the most radical, changes in modern British history? What have been the perceived advantages and disadvantages of British membership of the European Union? Why has British membership of the European Union rarely attracted a national consensus? Engaging with both academic and public debates about Britain and the European Union, this volume is essential reading for all students of British history, British politics, and European politics.

Brexit is likely to lead to the largest shift in Britain's economic orientation in living memory. Some have argued that leaving the EU will enable Britain to revive markets in Commonwealth countries with which it has long-standing historical ties. Their opponents maintain that such claims are based on forms of imperial nostalgia which ignore the often uncomfortable historical trade relations between Britain and these countries, as well as the UK's historical role as a global, rather than chiefly imperial, economy. Forging a British World of Trade explores how efforts to promote a 'British World' system, centred on promoting trade between Britain and the Dominions, grew and declined in influence between the 1880s and 1970s. At the beginning of the twentieth century many people from London, to Sydney, Auckland, and Toronto considered themselves to belong to culturally British nations. British politicians and business leaders invested significant resources in promoting trade with Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa out of a perception that these were great markets of the future. However, ideas about promoting trade between 'British' peoples were racially exclusive. From the 1920s onwards, colonized and decolonizing populations questioned and challenged the basis of British World networks, making use of alternative forms of international collaboration promoted firstly by the League of Nations, and then by the United Nations. Schemes for imperial collaboration amongst ethnically 'British' peoples were hollowed out by the actions of a variety of political and business leaders across Asia and Africa who reshaped the functions and identity of the Commonwealth.

This engaging and concise text offers the student and the general reader a compact, readable treatment of British membership of the European Union from 1973 to the present day. It provides a highly distilled and accessible analysis and overview of some of the parameters and recurring features of Britain’s membership of the European Union, touching on all of the major facets of membership. Key features: examines the constant and changing character of British membership of the European Union (EU) discusses the problematical and often paradoxical features of membership familiarizes the reader with both academic and public debates about the subject offers thematic treatment of all aspects of policy and attitudes towards the EU provides an overview of the main landmarks in the history of the EU since 1973 presents the most comprehensive and up-to-date text on the course and result of the EU referendum campaign. This book will be of key interest to scholars, students and the generally interested reader in the areas of European Studies, British Politics, EU Studies, Area Studies and International Relations.

This book outlines the possibilities and perspectives of an intertwining of European integration historiography with the history and concept of capitalism. Although debates on capitalism have been making a comeback since the 2008 crisis, to date the concept of capitalism remains almost completely avoided by historians of European integration. This book thus conceptualizes ‘capitalism’ as a useful analytical tool that should be used by historians of European integration and proposes three major approaches for them to do so: first, by bringing the question of social conflict, integral to the concept of capitalism, into European integration history; second, by better conceptualizing the link between European governance, Europeanization and the globalization of capitalism; and thirdly by investigating the economic, political and ideological models or doctrines that underlie European cooperation, integration, policies and institutions. This analytical encounter between European integration history and capitalism allows for a better understanding of how today’s "Europe" resulted from a complex social, economic and political conflict that took place in part at the European level. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the journal, the European Review of History.

20th Century Britain provides an authoritative and accessible survey of contemporary research on economic activity, society, political development and culture. Written by leading academics, it examines recent advances in scholarship and gives a grounding in established approaches and topics. The first part comprises thematic essays covering the whole of the twentieth century, including chapters on the economy, economic management, big business, parliamentary politics, leisure, work, health, international economic relations and empire. It uncovers key areas of equality and diversity in chapters on women, living standards, social mobility, ethnicity and multiculturalism, and gender and sexuality. The most recent subfields of historical studies are also explored, including disability history and environmental economic history. The second part focuses on seismic events and topics covering shorter timeframes, including the World Wars, interwar Depression, Britain and European integration, sexual behaviours, civil society, the 1960s cultural revolution and resisting racism. This collection provides an essential guide to current academic thinking on the most important elements of twentieth-century British history and is a useful tool for all students and scholars interested in modern Britain.

The Routledge Companion to the Makers of Global Business draws together a wide array of state-of-the-art research on multinational enterprises. The volume aims to deepen our historical understanding of how firms and entrepreneurs contributed to transformative processes of globalization. This book explores how global business facilitated the mechanisms of cross-border interactions that affected individuals, organizations, industries, national economies and international relations. The 37 chapters span the Middle Ages to the present day, analyzing the emergence of institutions and actors alongside key contextual factors for global business development. Contributors examine business as a central actor in globalization, covering myriad entrepreneurs, organizational forms and key industrial sectors. Taking a historical view, the chapters highlight the intertwined and evolving nature of economic, political, social, technological and environmental patterns and relationships. They explore dynamic change as well as lasting continuities, both of which often only become visible – and can only be fully understood – when analyzed in the long run. With dedicated chapters on challenges such as political risk, sustainability and economic growth, this prestigious collection provides a one-stop shop for a key business discipline. Chapter 31 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.