The 1960s was a decade of radical promise in British economic policy, a promise that was not realised. The new commitment to transform the British economy and achieve 4% annual economic growth demanded the introduction of an array of new policies. By the end of the decade, however, they had mainly been abandoned. Policy Learning and British Governance in the 1960s analyses the reasons for that failure. Hugh Pemberton marries detailed historical research with a new model of British economic policymaking that draws on the latest political science concepts of governance and policy learning. Perceptions of economic decline are seen to have created a powerful advocacy network and then radical policy learning in government. The subsequent failure to translate this learning into enduring policies that would achieve its ambitious objectives is then shown to be the product of a fundamental flaw in Britain's system of governance - a flaw that this book demonstrates has existed throughout the postwar period.

Introduction
Policy Learning and Governance
'The Great Reappraisal'
New Approaches in Fiscal Policy
An Incomes Policy for Growth
Intervention on the Supply-side
Conclusions

HUGH PEMBERTON was awarded his PhD at the University of Bristol in 2001. He was ESRC Postdoctoral Research Fellow there until 2002 and is presently British Academy Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science.