De-Globalization and its Significance: From the Particular to the General

In the last 100 years, the city of Dundee, one of the most economically globalized cities in Britain before 1914, has been radically 'de-globalized' as a result of changes in its economic structure. This article explores the reasons for this: how far it is typical of the whole of Britain, and what the significance of de-globalization is for our understanding of contemporary British history. It emphasizes, in particular, the rise of 'local Keynesianism'-the huge but little analysed rise in direct and indirect state employment in much of post-industrial Britain to compensate for the failure of the private sector to provide jobs.