The State and the Industrial Revolution 1700-1914 [antikvár]

The State and the Industrial Revolution 1700-1914* I saw clearly that free competition between two nations which are highly civilised can only be mutually beneficial in case both of them are in a nearly equal position of industrial development, and that any nation which owing to misforttme is behind others in industry, commerce and navigation . . . must first of all strengthen her own individual powers, in order to fit herself to enter into free competition with more advanced nations.^ i. INTRODUCTION In the long perspective of history the Industrial Revolution is an international phenomenon — extending, in its processes and consequences, over the whole world. In spite of this worldwide significance, however, it is customary for economists and historians to examine its origins and impact in terms of individual nations. And this is a logical feature of the study of industrialisation, for the flow of goods and men and ideas, the patterns of culture and ambitions, the elements of social structure, are all best understood, in the first instance at least, in terms of the distinctive frameworks created by national boundaries. Frontiers are more than lines on a map: they frequently define quite distinctive systems of thought and action. The state is, of course, preeminently such a system; and it is therefore through the history of nations that we must begin any empirical study of the role of the state in the international phenomenon which we call the Industrial Revolution. Modern industrial society originated in Britain when laissez-faire was an important part of the emerging economic ideology. This is not to say that the British classical econ- * I am greatly indebted to Professor Donald Winch for his extremely useful comments on the penultimate draft of this chapter. I. Preface to first edition of Friedrich List's The National System of Political Economy (1841), quoted in 1904 edition, p. xi. [5]