Neil Rollings
Biographic Data
| ID | 223318 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Neil Rollings |
| GIVEN NAMES | Neil |
| FAMILY NAME | Rollings |
| SIGNATURE | ROLLINGS N |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Glasgow |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-0789-9413 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 34 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 111 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 34 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1985 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2023 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
Business and Global Capitalism: Continuities and Change
It is common for historians to focus their attention on turning points in the past. The risk with this is that it overstates how dramatic change was and the extent of stasis and stability in between those turning points, at its most extreme form in notions of punctuated equilibriums. We need to remember the importance of continuities across those turning points and transitions in order to understand the roots of change and have a more nuanced pic…
The brokers of globalization: Towards a history of business associations in the international arena
This article is the introduction to the special issue looking at organised business in the international arena to gain better understanding of the role of this group of actors. The international strategies of national business interest associations and transnational business interest associations have largely been overlooked by business historians with a focus on multinational enterprise and global historians studying international organisations …
The development of transnational business associations during the twentieth century
This article outlines the development of international non-governmental organisations (INGOs), and especially those relating to business, over the twentieth century. Using a variety of constructed datasets and drawing on population ecology approaches to interest groups, it is shown how business associations were numerically dominant for much of the twentieth century despite being largely excluded from accounts of the development of INGOs over thi…
Dynamic network analysis of contact diaries
Analyzing two-mode networks linking actors to events they attend may help to uncover the structure and evolution of social networks. This classic social network insight is particularly valuable in the analysis of data extracted from contact diaries where contact events produce — and at the same time are the product of relations among participants. Contact events may comprise any number of actors meeting at a specific point in time. In this paper …
The Vast and Unsolved Enigma of Power”: Business History and Business Power
Business is commonly regarded as one of the powerful actors in the world today. However, this position is neither as straightforward as often believed nor particularly new. Nevertheless, business historians have not focused on the topic of business power to date, often leaving it as something lurking in the background of their analyses. There are signs that this may be beginning to change with the growth of studies on the history of capitalism, b…
Business history and European integration: How EEC competition policy affected companies’ strategies
This introduction to the special issue on business responses to European competition policy considers the development of research in the field of European competition policy. It is argued that existing analyses have concentrated on the development of policy over time and that we know surprisingly little about the response of business to the demands of competition policy. This is important because it is apparent that ever stricter legal provision …
Babcock and Wilcox Ltd, the ‘Babcock Family’ and regulation 17/62: A business response to new competition policy in the early 1960s
This article explores through the lens of the British company Babcock and Wilcox Ltd the response of a group of European companies to the threat posed to their activities by the new EEC competition policy in the early 1960s. Regulation 17/62 was set to ban the market-sharing agreements which had been in place for many years between the companies in Europe. The article tracks their deliberations over the most suitable response that would allow mar…
The Rise and Fall of the British Nation: A Twentieth Century History, by David Edgerton
David Edgerton’s books have a clear style and this one continues in that vein: it is iconoclastic, deeply researched and idiosyncratic. Here, however, the landscape is broader and the argument more sweeping, yet the telling detail and examples are still there. It would be hard for anyone to come away from reading the book having learned nothing. This is, then, an important book. It builds on some of the themes, such as that of the warfare state, …
Change of referencing style
We are now inviting manuscripts to be submitted with in-text references from 2018 onwards, as Business History will change its citation format from endnote to in-text author–date from 2019. There w
The twilight world of British business politics: The Spring Sunningdale conferences since the 1960s
This article explores a previously unknown form of interaction, known as Spring Sunningdale, between the British business elite and its civil servant equivalent in Whitehall. These began in 1963 and were still continuing only a few years ago. The continuity and stability of these meetings stands in contrast to wider changes in the nature of business–government relations in Britain during this period, particularly since the election of the Thatche…
Cracks in the Post-War Keynesian Settlement? The Role of Organised Business in Britain in the Rise of Neoliberalism Before Margaret Thatcher
This article modifies our understanding of the rise of neoliberalism in Britain by highlighting the links between neoliberal circles and organised business in Britain. It focuses on the role of two individuals who played an active role in both spheres as Economic Director of the Confederation of British Industry and its predecessor over the period 1955–73. Incorporation of this evidence shows that neoliberal intellectuals and think tanks were not…
European Organised Business and European Integration in the Post-Second World War Period
Political science writings and the economic or business history literature present very different accounts of the development of European organised business interests, including European industrial federations (Eurofederations), after the Second World War. The former highlight the growth of these groups in response to European political integration while the latter recount a story of decline as international cartels became less acceptable. Here w…
Multinational Enterprise and Government Controls on Outward Foreign Direct Investment in the United States and the United Kingdom in the 1960s
The 1960s have been seen as critical in the development of multinational enterprise by social scientists. Business historians have provided a context to these developments but are only now beginning to consider the 1960s in the light of access to archival material. This article analyses the nature and extent of the tension between multinational enterprise and U.S. and U.K. national governments in the 1960s caused by the tightening of controls on …
Beyond varieties of capitalism: Conflict, contradictions and complimentarities in the European economy
British conservatism and trade unionism, 1945–1964
British conservatism and trade unionism, 1945–1964, by Peter Dorey, Farnham, Ashgate, 2009, iv + 200 pp., £55.00 (hardback), ISBN 978-0-7546-6659-2 This is the latest in the now large Modern Econom
From dreams to disillusionment: Economic and social planning in 1960s Britain - By Glen O'Hara
British Business in the Formative Years of European Integration, 1945–1973
This book questions conventional accounts of the history of European integration and British business. Integration accounts normally focus on the nation-state, while Neil Rollings focuses on business and its role in the development of European integration, which business historians have previously overlooked. Business provided a key link between economic integration, political integration, and the process of Europeanization. British businessmen p…
British business history: A review of the periodical literature for 2005
not available
Private transnational governance in the heyday of the nation‐state: The Council of European Industrial Federations (Ceif) 1
This article examines an example of private transnational governance in the first decades after the Second World War: the Council of European Industrial Federations (CEIF), created in 1949 by the peak‐level trade associations in western Europe. Based on this case, the article takes issue with two predominant views in the current literature: a view that sees the European integration process, at least in its early stages, as driven largely by natio…
The politics of free markets: The rise of neoliberal economic policies in Britain, France, Germany and the United States - By Monica Prasad
Cultural continuity in advanced economies: Britain and the US versus continental Europe – Gustav Schachter and Saul Engelbourg
Whitehall and the Control of Prices and Profits in a Major War, 1919–1939
For much of the interwar period there was discussion in Whitehall of the policy to control prices and profits in any future major war. Opinion was divided between those who believed that the control of prices and profits would be necessary in return for controlling labour in the light of the experience of the First World War, and those who focused on the financial aspects of the issue, in which the control of prices and profits was seen to play l…
Reluctant Europeans? The Federation of British Industries and European Integration, 1945–63
British industry is often portrayed as one of the main forces in favour of closer integration with western Europe. In the period prior to the rejection of Britain's first application to join the Common Market the Federation of British Industries (FBI) played a pivotal role between Whitehall and the wider business community. It had a role both in policy-making and in creating business opinion. However, this was not a static and sustained position:…
Responding to relative decline: The creation of the National Economic Development Council
R ecent work on Britain's economic performance has begun to adjust our understanding of the country's relative economic decline.While relative decline was apparent throughout the century after 1870, it has been argued, 'decline appears to have been at its most rapid in the years from the 1950s to the 1970s', the so-called 'golden age' of capitalism, just when British performance, measured in historic terms, was relatively good. 2 Broadberry's mos…
Economic Planning, 1943-1951: A Guide to Documents in the Public Record Office
Cabinet minutes and memoranda cabinet office registered files Lord President's committee (wartime) miscellaneous standing committees (wartime) ad hoc Cabinet committees (wartime) reconstruction committees central statistical office reconstruction secretariat Lord President's private office and secretariat Lord President's secretariat private papers ad hoc Cabinet committees (post-war) Lord President's committee (post-war) miscellaneous standing c…
Private transnational governance in the heyday of the nation‐state: The Council of European Industrial Federations (Ceif) 1
This article examines an example of private transnational governance in the first decades after the Second World War: the Council of European Industrial Federations (CEIF), created in 1949 by the peak‐level trade associations in western Europe. Based on this case, the article takes issue with two predominant views in the current literature: a view that sees the European integration process, at least in its early stages, as driven largely by natio…
The Vast and Unsolved Enigma of Power”: Business History and Business Power
Business is commonly regarded as one of the powerful actors in the world today. However, this position is neither as straightforward as often believed nor particularly new. Nevertheless, business historians have not focused on the topic of business power to date, often leaving it as something lurking in the background of their analyses. There are signs that this may be beginning to change with the growth of studies on the history of capitalism, b…
Multinational Enterprise and Government Controls on Outward Foreign Direct Investment in the United States and the United Kingdom in the 1960s
The 1960s have been seen as critical in the development of multinational enterprise by social scientists. Business historians have provided a context to these developments but are only now beginning to consider the 1960s in the light of access to archival material. This article analyses the nature and extent of the tension between multinational enterprise and U.S. and U.K. national governments in the 1960s caused by the tightening of controls on …
Poor Mr Butskell: A Short Life, Wrecked by Schizophrenia’
The development of transnational business associations during the twentieth century
This article outlines the development of international non-governmental organisations (INGOs), and especially those relating to business, over the twentieth century. Using a variety of constructed datasets and drawing on population ecology approaches to interest groups, it is shown how business associations were numerically dominant for much of the twentieth century despite being largely excluded from accounts of the development of INGOs over thi…
Cracks in the Post-War Keynesian Settlement? The Role of Organised Business in Britain in the Rise of Neoliberalism Before Margaret Thatcher
This article modifies our understanding of the rise of neoliberalism in Britain by highlighting the links between neoliberal circles and organised business in Britain. It focuses on the role of two individuals who played an active role in both spheres as Economic Director of the Confederation of British Industry and its predecessor over the period 1955–73. Incorporation of this evidence shows that neoliberal intellectuals and think tanks were not…
The brokers of globalization: Towards a history of business associations in the international arena
This article is the introduction to the special issue looking at organised business in the international arena to gain better understanding of the role of this group of actors. The international strategies of national business interest associations and transnational business interest associations have largely been overlooked by business historians with a focus on multinational enterprise and global historians studying international organisations …
Business history and European integration: How EEC competition policy affected companies’ strategies
This introduction to the special issue on business responses to European competition policy considers the development of research in the field of European competition policy. It is argued that existing analyses have concentrated on the development of policy over time and that we know surprisingly little about the response of business to the demands of competition policy. This is important because it is apparent that ever stricter legal provision …
The twilight world of British business politics: The Spring Sunningdale conferences since the 1960s
This article explores a previously unknown form of interaction, known as Spring Sunningdale, between the British business elite and its civil servant equivalent in Whitehall. These began in 1963 and were still continuing only a few years ago. The continuity and stability of these meetings stands in contrast to wider changes in the nature of business–government relations in Britain during this period, particularly since the election of the Thatche…
Responding to relative decline: The creation of the National Economic Development Council
R ecent work on Britain's economic performance has begun to adjust our understanding of the country's relative economic decline.While relative decline was apparent throughout the century after 1870, it has been argued, 'decline appears to have been at its most rapid in the years from the 1950s to the 1970s', the so-called 'golden age' of capitalism, just when British performance, measured in historic terms, was relatively good. 2 Broadberry's mos…
Whitehall and the Control of Prices and Profits in a Major War, 1919–1939
For much of the interwar period there was discussion in Whitehall of the policy to control prices and profits in any future major war. Opinion was divided between those who believed that the control of prices and profits would be necessary in return for controlling labour in the light of the experience of the First World War, and those who focused on the financial aspects of the issue, in which the control of prices and profits was seen to play l…
Reluctant Europeans? The Federation of British Industries and European Integration, 1945–63
British industry is often portrayed as one of the main forces in favour of closer integration with western Europe. In the period prior to the rejection of Britain's first application to join the Common Market the Federation of British Industries (FBI) played a pivotal role between Whitehall and the wider business community. It had a role both in policy-making and in creating business opinion. However, this was not a static and sustained position:…
Babcock and Wilcox Ltd, the ‘Babcock Family’ and regulation 17/62: A business response to new competition policy in the early 1960s
This article explores through the lens of the British company Babcock and Wilcox Ltd the response of a group of European companies to the threat posed to their activities by the new EEC competition policy in the early 1960s. Regulation 17/62 was set to ban the market-sharing agreements which had been in place for many years between the companies in Europe. The article tracks their deliberations over the most suitable response that would allow mar…
Change of referencing style
We are now inviting manuscripts to be submitted with in-text references from 2018 onwards, as Business History will change its citation format from endnote to in-text author–date from 2019. There w
British budgetary policy 1945-1954: A'Keynesian revolution
No abstract available
Beyond varieties of capitalism: Conflict, contradictions and complimentarities in the European economy
The "Keynesian Revolution" and Economic Policy-making: A Comment
No abstract available
The "Keynesian Revolution" and Economic Policy-making: A Comment
No abstract available
British budgetary policy 1945-1954: A'Keynesian revolution
No abstract available
British Budgetary Policy 1945-1954: A 'Keynesian Revolution
The British Economy Since 1945
Economic History and the Current Crisis in Economics
At present it is common to talk about a crisis in modern economics. This has come to a head in the UK with the continued poor record of economic forecasters, whose accuracy appears, if anything, to be getting worse. Outside commentators are showing considerable disillusionment with economics and its predictive powers, although to date this seems to have had little impact on the position of economists as policy advisers. Even among economists them…
Poor Mr Butskell: A Short Life, Wrecked by Schizophrenia’
Labour Governments and Private Industry: The Experience of 1945-1951
Part 1 policies: The Reichstag method of governing? - Atlee governments and permanent economic controls, Neil Rollings productivity policy, Jim Tomlinson anti-monopoly policy, Helen Mercer private industrial movements, Martin Chick whatever happened to the British warfare state? - the Ministry of Supply 1945-1951, David Edgerton taxation policy, Richard Whiting. Part 2 the sectors: the cotton industry - a middle way between nationalism and self-g…
The Bank of England and Public Policy, 1941-1958
The Welfare State in Britain Since 1945
PART 1: - THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES - The Nature of the Welfare State - The Nature of Policy-making - PART 2: - THE CLASSIC WELFARE STATE 1945-75 - The Historical Context - Employment Policy - Social Security - Health Care - Education - Housing - The Personal Social Services - The Achievement - PART 3: - WELFARE POLICY SINCE 1976 - The Welfare State under Threat - Appendix I The Cost of Welfare
Economic Planning, 1943-1951: A Guide to Documents in the Public Record Office
Cabinet minutes and memoranda cabinet office registered files Lord President's committee (wartime) miscellaneous standing committees (wartime) ad hoc Cabinet committees (wartime) reconstruction committees central statistical office reconstruction secretariat Lord President's private office and secretariat Lord President's secretariat private papers ad hoc Cabinet committees (post-war) Lord President's committee (post-war) miscellaneous standing c…
Reluctant Europeans? The Federation of British Industries and European Integration, 1945–63
British industry is often portrayed as one of the main forces in favour of closer integration with western Europe. In the period prior to the rejection of Britain's first application to join the Common Market the Federation of British Industries (FBI) played a pivotal role between Whitehall and the wider business community. It had a role both in policy-making and in creating business opinion. However, this was not a static and sustained position:…
Responding to relative decline: The creation of the National Economic Development Council
R ecent work on Britain's economic performance has begun to adjust our understanding of the country's relative economic decline.While relative decline was apparent throughout the century after 1870, it has been argued, 'decline appears to have been at its most rapid in the years from the 1950s to the 1970s', the so-called 'golden age' of capitalism, just when British performance, measured in historic terms, was relatively good. 2 Broadberry's mos…
Whitehall and the Control of Prices and Profits in a Major War, 1919–1939
For much of the interwar period there was discussion in Whitehall of the policy to control prices and profits in any future major war. Opinion was divided between those who believed that the control of prices and profits would be necessary in return for controlling labour in the light of the experience of the First World War, and those who focused on the financial aspects of the issue, in which the control of prices and profits was seen to play l…
Cultural continuity in advanced economies: Britain and the US versus continental Europe – Gustav Schachter and Saul Engelbourg
British Business in the Formative Years of European Integration, 1945–1973
This book questions conventional accounts of the history of European integration and British business. Integration accounts normally focus on the nation-state, while Neil Rollings focuses on business and its role in the development of European integration, which business historians have previously overlooked. Business provided a key link between economic integration, political integration, and the process of Europeanization. British businessmen p…
British business history: A review of the periodical literature for 2005
not available
Private transnational governance in the heyday of the nation‐state: The Council of European Industrial Federations (Ceif) 1
This article examines an example of private transnational governance in the first decades after the Second World War: the Council of European Industrial Federations (CEIF), created in 1949 by the peak‐level trade associations in western Europe. Based on this case, the article takes issue with two predominant views in the current literature: a view that sees the European integration process, at least in its early stages, as driven largely by natio…
The politics of free markets: The rise of neoliberal economic policies in Britain, France, Germany and the United States - By Monica Prasad
From dreams to disillusionment: Economic and social planning in 1960s Britain - By Glen O'Hara
Beyond varieties of capitalism: Conflict, contradictions and complimentarities in the European economy
British conservatism and trade unionism, 1945–1964
British conservatism and trade unionism, 1945–1964, by Peter Dorey, Farnham, Ashgate, 2009, iv + 200 pp., £55.00 (hardback), ISBN 978-0-7546-6659-2 This is the latest in the now large Modern Econom
Multinational Enterprise and Government Controls on Outward Foreign Direct Investment in the United States and the United Kingdom in the 1960s
The 1960s have been seen as critical in the development of multinational enterprise by social scientists. Business historians have provided a context to these developments but are only now beginning to consider the 1960s in the light of access to archival material. This article analyses the nature and extent of the tension between multinational enterprise and U.S. and U.K. national governments in the 1960s caused by the tightening of controls on …
European Organised Business and European Integration in the Post-Second World War Period
Political science writings and the economic or business history literature present very different accounts of the development of European organised business interests, including European industrial federations (Eurofederations), after the Second World War. The former highlight the growth of these groups in response to European political integration while the latter recount a story of decline as international cartels became less acceptable. Here w…
Cracks in the Post-War Keynesian Settlement? The Role of Organised Business in Britain in the Rise of Neoliberalism Before Margaret Thatcher
This article modifies our understanding of the rise of neoliberalism in Britain by highlighting the links between neoliberal circles and organised business in Britain. It focuses on the role of two individuals who played an active role in both spheres as Economic Director of the Confederation of British Industry and its predecessor over the period 1955–73. Incorporation of this evidence shows that neoliberal intellectuals and think tanks were not…
The twilight world of British business politics: The Spring Sunningdale conferences since the 1960s
This article explores a previously unknown form of interaction, known as Spring Sunningdale, between the British business elite and its civil servant equivalent in Whitehall. These began in 1963 and were still continuing only a few years ago. The continuity and stability of these meetings stands in contrast to wider changes in the nature of business–government relations in Britain during this period, particularly since the election of the Thatche…
Economics (23 works) · Political science (23 works) · Law (18 works) · Political and Economic history of UK and US (14 works) · Law (13 works) · Politics (12 works) · Economic history (11 works) · Sociology (10 works) · Economy (9 works) · Business (8 works)