Restating the State?

In his essay “The end of laissez-faire”, Keynes distinguished between the agenda and the non-agenda of government. This book asks how we interpret that distinction today.

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• A ground-breaking collection concerned with rethinking the contemporary role of the state.
  
• Comprises essays written by leading scholars and politicians.
  
• Looks back at the expansion of the social democratic state in post-war Britain, and at the subsequent challenge to this from neo-liberal ideas and policies.
  
• Discusses new doctrines for managing the state, new conceptions of the state, and new ideas for organising the delivery of public services.
  
• Covers current concepts, such as the enabling state, and topical issues such as public private partnerships.
  
• Goes beyond traditional ‘state versus market’ arguments.
  
• Opens up new conceptual and practical territory.