Craig, M.P.A. (2018) ‘Treasury Control’ and the British environmental state: The political economy of green development strategy in UK central government. New Political Economy, 25 (1). pp. 30-45. ISSN 1356-3467
Abstract
A growing literature uses the term ‘environmental state’ to refer to the new roles and institutional capacities that the modern capitalist state has acquired in relation to the environment and the unfolding ecological crisis. Green development strategies for the transformation of unsustainable accumulation models are an important qualitative and quantitative indicator of environmental statehood. Yet in Britain, the powers and policy priorities of H.M Treasury are proving a significant constraint on the articulation of such a strategy. I situate the Treasury's obstructive stance in the broader history of the internal politics of the British state, arguing that it reflects a long-standing tendency for the Treasury to assert a position of power vis-à-vis departmental rivals in ways that undermine their capacity to conduct interventionist industrial policies. I analyse the post-2008 context as a moment in which this regularity has re-asserted itself as the Treasury privileges a strategy of accumulation model repair over one of transformation. I illustrate the implications of this stance for the emerging British environmental state by examining two episodes: the containment and privatisation of the green investment bank, and recent incursions by the Treasury into energy policy. I conclude by considering the methodological and practical implications of the analysis.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an author produced version of a paper subsequently published in New Political Economy. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | Treasury control; green industrial policy; British political development; recovery through regressive redistribution; green transition |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > Department of Politics and International Relations (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 04 Jan 2019 14:48 |
Last Modified: | 25 Nov 2021 08:36 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Taylor & Francis |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1080/13563467.2018.1526269 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:140519 |