The Colonies, Politics and Economic Development: Britain’s Liberalization Challenged, 1953–56

Abstract

Britain’s liberalization in external economic relations in the mid-1950s required policies that made the dismantling of trade restrictions and currency convertibility feasible without provoking instability. Britain was urged along the road towards liberalization by external factors, namely her rapprochement with Europe and the longstanding relationship with the United States. However, the local economic and social environment in the colonies was not conducive to Britain’s liberalization in her external economic relations. The colonies might push Britain to travel too fast towards liberalization or be too slow in adjusting to it, or their intention to conduct expansionist economic policies might altogether sidestep British coordination in a liberalized sterling area. Moreover, institutional transformations in the colonies might heighten risks for the sterling area ensuing from the sterling balances. British colonial policy was influenced by perceptions of such risks, and attempted to steer clear of these constraints by evaluating their political dimension. The Gold Coast is the most relevant example for this strategy. The wider rationale of colonial economic policies emanated from Britain’s reorientation in external economic relations. Political studies of the period abound. But the literature dealing with economic developments on the periphery is still relatively scarce compared to later periods. Moreover, studies of economic policy largely ignore the imperial context in which policy was formulated. The political dimension of these issues will be better understood if they are viewed as part of the wider sterling relationships of liberalizing Britain.1 KeywordsCentral BankDevelopment FinanceGold CoastEconomic LiberalizationColonial GovernmentThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.