Rise and fall of the alternative economic strategy: From internationalisation of capital to ‘globalisation’

Abstract

The Alternative Economic Strategy (AES) was the focus of the British left's thinking for more than a decade and formed the basis of the Labour party's plans for the economic renewal of Britain as recently as the general election of 1983. It originated both as a response to the crisis of the British economy, which deepened in the 1970s, and to the perception of its growing porousness as economic activity became increasingly internationalised. The demise of the AES is undoubtedly related to the fragmentation of the Labour left after 1981, especially in the wake of the general election defeat of 1983. But some of its earliest advocates began to see that the AES was in need of major revision in the light of considerations that became evident well before 9 June 1983. The fact that these doubts were expressed by some of the more radical and creative contributors to the AES is evidence of a serious reappraisal of what the programme could achieve in the changing circumstances of the early 1980s. But while the radicals turned to the advocacy of a trans‐European strategy, the Labour party did not.