Manchester University Press
10 Imperial revenue and national welfare
Abstract
The consolidation of the British welfare state in the mid-twentieth century did not only coincide with the systematic dismantling of the British Empire but was significantly shaped by the empire that preceded it. The story that tends to be told about the welfare state, however, situates it firmly within the national context. Such understandings go on to shape contemporary political debates centred on questions of entitlement and concerns over legitimacy. This chapter reassesses the standard accounts of taxation and welfare that are claimed to be central to the construction of the nation to demonstrate how taking the Empire into account offers the possibility of a different political response to the challenges we are faced with today.
Abstract
The consolidation of the British welfare state in the mid-twentieth century did not only coincide with the systematic dismantling of the British Empire but was significantly shaped by the empire that preceded it. The story that tends to be told about the welfare state, however, situates it firmly within the national context. Such understandings go on to shape contemporary political debates centred on questions of entitlement and concerns over legitimacy. This chapter reassesses the standard accounts of taxation and welfare that are claimed to be central to the construction of the nation to demonstrate how taking the Empire into account offers the possibility of a different political response to the challenges we are faced with today.
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- List of figures vii
- List of tables x
- Notes on contributors xi
- Preface xiv
- Acknowledgements xix
- Introduction 1
-
Part I: Institutional and fiscal issues
- 1 The great gage 19
- 2 The cost of thrift 37
- 3 Madagascar and French imperial mercantilism 57
- 4 The right to sovereign seizure? Taxation, valuation, and the Imperial British East Africa Company 79
- 5 Internal inequalities 98
-
Part II: Taxation and welfare
- 6 Taxation, welfare, and inequalities in the Spanish imperial state 121
- 7 Political economies of welfare of the Spanish Empire 138
- 8 Poverty, health, and imperial wealth in early modern Scotland 157
- 9 Compromise and adaptation in colonial taxation 177
- 10 Imperial revenue and national welfare 198
-
Part III: Post-colonial legacies
- 11 Making investor states 219
- 12 The lure of the welfare state following decolonisation in Kenya 240
- 13 From capitation taxes to tax havens 259
- 14 Imperial extraction and ‘tax havens’ 280
- 15 The Crown Agents and the CDC Group 299
- Afterword 319
- Index 329
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- List of figures vii
- List of tables x
- Notes on contributors xi
- Preface xiv
- Acknowledgements xix
- Introduction 1
-
Part I: Institutional and fiscal issues
- 1 The great gage 19
- 2 The cost of thrift 37
- 3 Madagascar and French imperial mercantilism 57
- 4 The right to sovereign seizure? Taxation, valuation, and the Imperial British East Africa Company 79
- 5 Internal inequalities 98
-
Part II: Taxation and welfare
- 6 Taxation, welfare, and inequalities in the Spanish imperial state 121
- 7 Political economies of welfare of the Spanish Empire 138
- 8 Poverty, health, and imperial wealth in early modern Scotland 157
- 9 Compromise and adaptation in colonial taxation 177
- 10 Imperial revenue and national welfare 198
-
Part III: Post-colonial legacies
- 11 Making investor states 219
- 12 The lure of the welfare state following decolonisation in Kenya 240
- 13 From capitation taxes to tax havens 259
- 14 Imperial extraction and ‘tax havens’ 280
- 15 The Crown Agents and the CDC Group 299
- Afterword 319
- Index 329
