Business, Politics and International Relations
Steel, Cotton and International Cartels in British Politics, 1924–1939

A new and original interpretation of British industry's relations with foreign competition in the 1920s and 1930s.

Clemens Wurm (Author), Patrick Salmon (Translated by)

9780521108768, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 16 April 2009

420 pages, 13 tables
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.4 cm, 0.61 kg

' … a careful and persuasive analysis …' The Historical Journal

This is a study of commercial diplomacy, which investigates the responses of British industry and government to foreign competition, sectoral depression and decline. It examines the attitude of the British iron and steel industry towards the cartel of the continental steel industries, and the attempt of the Lancashire cotton industry in 1932–4 to reach a market-sharing agreement with Japan. Using a wide range of primary sources the author provides an analysis of the role of the state in British industrial policies and in the management of industrial decline. He shows that the outcome of international negotiations in the steel and cotton industries was not determined by economic factors alone, but was decisively influenced by political and diplomatic considerations and by the role of the state.

Introduction
Part I. Great Britain and the international steel cartel 1924–1939
Part II. Commercial diplomacy during the great depression: Great Britain, Japan and the division of the world cotton market
Notes
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Economic history [KCZ]