- Hardcover: 304 pages
- Publisher: Harriman House Publishing (25 April 2007)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1905641176
- ISBN-13: 978-1905641178
- Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 16.4 x 3.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 222,940 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Description
Product Description
New Labour's distinctive idea is that equality and efficiency are partners, not enemies. This, the book argues, is an example of managerialist ideology - the belief that trade-offs between conflicting values can be managed away by clever policies, that management can replace politics. This is not true. New Labour's main economic policies - tax credits, the minimum wage, expanding higher education and promoting macroeconomic stability - have not removed the trade-off between equality and efficiency. However, the failure of managerialism is not merely a failure of particular policies. There are deeper flaws in it. It fails to recognize the multiple and conflicting meanings of the ideals of equality and efficiency. And it assumes that governments have knowledge and rationality that are in fact unattainable. The book is a plea to remove managerialism, and replace it with genuine politics. We should ditch the idea that a central elite can manage away social problems, and instead debate about conflicting ideals.
About the Author
Chris Dillow was educated at Oxford and Manchester Universities, and spent several years as an economist in the City, before becoming economics writer at the Investors Chronicle. He blogs at http://stumblingandmumbling.typepad.com
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
I enjoyed Dillow's book very much. It is a consistent and creative approach to the central question, and it is a pleasure to read a book where the author is so clearly engaged with, and passionate about, the subject.
My only caveat would concern the book's intended audience. For an interested layperson, the pitch is perfect: the book is an engaging whistlestop tour through economics, history, philosophy, politics, and much besides. However, I suspect the academic reader will find the occasionally scattergun approach frustrating (the chapters have, according to the preface, arisen fairly independently, and can be read in any order, which slightly disrupts the flow of the argument). In addition, Dillow brushes over some fairly major areas of academic debate - necessary, but occasionally unsatisfying.
Overall, this is an excellent introduction for those frustrated with the current turn of political discourse, and provides a good springboard for further reading for those more engaged with the topic.
My only caveat would concern the book's intended audience. For an interested layperson, the pitch is perfect: the book is an engaging whistlestop tour through economics, history, philosophy, politics, and much besides. However, I suspect the academic reader will find the occasionally scattergun approach frustrating (the chapters have, according to the preface, arisen fairly independently, and can be read in any order, which slightly disrupts the flow of the argument). In addition, Dillow brushes over some fairly major areas of academic debate - necessary, but occasionally unsatisfying.
Overall, this is an excellent introduction for those frustrated with the current turn of political discourse, and provides a good springboard for further reading for those more engaged with the topic.
6 of 12 people found the following review helpful
You obviously haven't read Chris Dillow's book or you'd understand that there are important distinctions between managerialism and triangulation. Triangulation is a component of manageralism but it is not it in its totality.
3 of 21 people found the following review helpful
It seems pretty strange that another book called "The End of Politics. Triangulation and the Battle for the Centre Ground" was published last year and argued a very similar point. It's been a while, but I remember that the authors (Stanly and Lees, I think) argued Labour's pioneering use of "Triangulation" (a strategic form of managerialism, I guess) had damaged the essentials of political debate and harmed the main parties's capacity to respond effectively to pressing social problems like inner city depravation. It ended pretty strongly by urging a revaluation of the views of government and society which underpin modern politicla thought and by suggesting that a bigger role needs to be givne to social co-operation.
It would be odd if Chris Dillow hadn't read Stanley and Lees's book, especially given the wierd similarity between their titles, and this would be worrying. If Dillow hasn't, however, he probably should. It might have saved him some trouble.
It would be odd if Chris Dillow hadn't read Stanley and Lees's book, especially given the wierd similarity between their titles, and this would be worrying. If Dillow hasn't, however, he probably should. It might have saved him some trouble.
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