The Stakeholding Society
Writings on Politics and Economics
1. Edition December 1998
296 Pages, Softcover
Wiley & Sons Ltd
For over a decade Will Hutton has been one of Britain's leading
progressive voices. He has been at the centre of every significant
economic and political debate that has reshaped and reimagined the
British centre-left: the mounting calls for a democratic
constitutional settlement, the criticisms of the short-termism of
the domestic and international financial systems, the idea of a
stakeholding society. In The State We're In he combined all
three in a passionate and powerful diagnosis of Britain's problems
and the possibility of a just and democratic renewal.
This collection brings together the full range of Hutton's work
as a journalist, pamphleteer and essayist, advocate and critic, and
shows the spectrum of issues with which he has engaged. Yet Hutton
has remained true to his best journalistic instincts. He has proved
to be not only an acute thinker but an engaged writer and effective
popularizer.
Brought together, his work over the last ten years represents
the emergence of a new politics and new political imagination in
Britain. Founded on a coherent critique of neo-liberal economic
orthodoxy and monetarist practice, and a sophisticated reassessment
of neo-Keynesianism, Hutton has put the politics back into
political economy. The case he makes for new economic institutions,
the regulation of global capital markets, the refounding of British
industry, has always been matched by the complementary requirements
of a new politics which is consensual, democratic, open and
innovative and which must be pursued as much in Brussels and the
regions and nations of the UK as at Westminster.
Introduction.
Part I: Enlivening the Dismal Science: The Limits to Economic
Orthodoxy.
Part II: The Keynesian Revival: New Arguments for Growth and
Employment.
Part III: London Babylon: The City, Finance and the British
Economy.
Part IV: Ownership Matters: Short-Termism, Stakeholding and
Corporate Governance.
Part V: Taming Mammon: The Growth and Regulation of the Global
Economy.
Part VI: European Dilemmas: From ERM to EMU.
Part VII: The Political Economy of Penury: Taxation and Public
Spending in the UK.
Part VIII: An Age of Insecurity?.
Part IX: Lessons from Elsewhere: Alternative Models of
Capitalism.
Part X: The State We're In: Constitutional Struggles and
Economic Revival.
Part XI: The Times they are Changing? New Labour's First
Year.
Afterword.
Index.
be made compatible with the well-being of human society by using
the power of democracy. His special talent is to explain lucidly
why that should happen, to show rationally how it can happen, and
to do both tirelessly. The Stakeholding Society proves that
again. Other political and economic commentators provide analysis.
Hutton offers real answers too.' Neil Kinnock, European
Commissioner, Leader of the Labour Party 1983-92
'Will Hutton belongs to the great tradition of the
scholar-journalist. His range is extraordinarily wide; his writing
is fresh and hard-hitting; above all, he has a marvellous capacity
to make unexpected connections and provoke new thinking. Hutton is
a pathfinder in the world-wide search for a new political economy
marrying the dynamism of the capitalist market economy with the
core social-democratic values of justice and solidarity. This book
is an important signpost to a new left-of-centre politics.'
Professor David Marquand, Principal of Mansfield College,
Oxford
'Will Hutton's The State We're In has had more influence
on the policy debate than any other book published in the 1990s,
challenging the assumptions of the Thatcher era and helping to
shape a new climate. The essays and articles contained in The
Stakeholding Society take the argument an exciting stage
further. Readable, rigorous, bursting with the intellectual energy
that is Hutton's hallmark as a journalist and thinker, this book
will stimulate and infuriate and become-in its turn -a catalyst for
change.' Ben Pimlott, Warden of Goldsmith's College,
London
'Will Hutton is the authentic intellectual voice of the British
left. Anyone interested in the ideas which are shaping the
transformation of Thatcherism into Blair's new Britain should read
this book.' Anatole Kaletsky, The Times
'The Stakeholding Society elegantly showcases Hutton's
not inconsiderable skills as the informed journalist ... Hutton's
work has the rare qualities of passion and thoughtful reason. His
popularity as an accessible advocate of profound change in
capitalism ... is highly recognisable from this collection.'
International Journal of Employment Studies