This book presents a penetrating new analysis of the end of the empire, located at the intersection of politics, economy and society in Britain and the colonies. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, when political control was feasible, discriminatory management of the colonies sustained Britain's postwar recovery. But synergy turned into conflict as Britain moved towards economic liberalization and financial cosmopolitanism, and found it increasingly difficult to reconcile established relations with emerging priorities. Based on a wide range of archival and other sources, this study relates political and economic developments in Britain and the colonies in original ways to overcome the gulf between peripheralist and Euro-centric explanations of postwar British imperial relations, and helps redress the neglect of the empire in modern international history. Money and the End of Empire will nourish debates in British and international economic and political history and is essential reading for historians of Britain and the empire.

Autorentext

GEROLD KROZEWSKI is Lecturer in History at the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva.

Inhalt

Dedication List of Figures, Tables and Appendices Acknowledgements Abbreviations Introduction: Exploring Britain's Postwar Imperial Relations PART I: BRITAIN, FRANCE, AND EMPIRE Sterling, Britain's Imperial Relations and the Wider World: The Legacy Britain, the Sterling Area, and the Empire: Key Economic Relationships, 1947-58 PART II: CONVERGENCE: BRITAIN, EMPIRE, AND STERLING CRISES, 1947, 1949, 1951 Britain's Postwar Economic Reconstruction: Discrimination and Empire, 1947-53 The Colonies, Economic Booms, and Trade Discrimination: Britain's Recovery Supported, 1947-53 PART III: DIVERGENCE: BRITAIN, EMPIRE, AND PLANNED LIBERALIZATION, 1953-56 Britain and Economic Liberalization: Imperial Relations Adjusted, 1953-56 The Colonies, Politics, and Economic Development: Britain's Liberalization Challenged, 1953-56 PART IV: SEPARATION: BRITAIN, EMPIRE, AND THE RETURN TO MULTILATERALISM, TOWARDS 1958 AND BEYOND Britain's New Cosmopolitanism: Financial Realignment and Imperial Relations, 1958 and Beyond The Sterling Empire and the International Economy: Frictions with Cosmopolitan Britain, 1958 and Beyond Conclusion: The End of the British Empire: A Synthesis and an Interpretation Notes Archival Sources and Bibliography Index