Warfare State

An alternative account of the development of one of the greatest states of the twentieth century.

This groundbreaking book challenges the central theme of the existing histories of twentieth-century Britain, that the British state was a welfare state. It argues that it was also a warfare state, which supported a powerful armaments industry. It offers a new, post-welfarist and post-declinist, account of Britain, and an original analysis of the relations of science, technology, industry and the military. It will be essential reading for those working on the history and historiography of twentieth-century Britain, the historical sociology of war and the history of science and technology.

1. The military-industrial complex in the interwar years; 2. The warfare state and the nationalisation of Britain, 1939-55; 3. The expert state: the military-scientific complex in the interwar years; 4. The new men and the new state, 1939-70; 5. Anti-historians and technocrats: revisiting the post-war technocratic moment; 6. The warfare state and the 'white heat', 1955-70; 7. The disappearance of the British warfare state; 8. Rethinking the relations of science, technology, industry and war in the twentieth century.