EXAMINING THE U.K EXPERIENCE OF NATIONALIZATION BETWEEN 1946 AND 1986 Essay

EXAMINING THE U.K EXPERIENCE OF NATIONALIZATION BETWEEN 1946 AND 1986 AND INDICATING WHAT FACTORS IGHT BE CONSIDERED AS RELEVANT WHEN MAKING A DECISION TO NATIO - Essay Example (Cairncross, 1986) The fragmented coal industries were nationalised and so were the railway, steel and telecommunication industries. Utilities were also nationalised by the Labour government. (Tomlinson, 1982; Durbin, 1985) The ideological basis for nationalisation in 1946 U.K. could be summed up in Attlee’s words: â€Å"a mixed economy developing toward socialism.... The doctrines of abundance, of full employment, and of social security require the transfer to public ownership of certain major economic forces and the planned control in the public interest of many other economic activities.† (quoted by Yergin and Stanislaw, 1998 p.27) Tomlinson (n.d.) on the other hand views the ideological basis for nationalisation in the UK as reflective of two different epochs – the 1930s-1940s reflecting the socialist planned economy paradigm, and the 1950s-1970s reflecting a social democratic economic paradigm. Thus, Attlee’s vision of nationalisation in the UK could be categorised under Tomlinson’s 1930s-1940s socialist ideological era. It was held that the fragmented nature of privately owned industries (like the coal industry which then provided about 90 per cent of the UK’s energy needs) were inefficient, had experienced under-investment, and lacked scale. (Hannah, 2004) Nationalisation was thus seen as a medium for pulling together resources and implementation of new technologies on a national scale for the functioning of industries. This, it was envisaged, would result in efficient running of industries culminating in the â€Å"achievement of the national objectives of economic development and growth, full employment, and justice and equality†. (Yergin and Stanislaw, 1998 p. 25; Robson, 1962) Nationalisation was thus also a means for salvaging a non-performing and failing private sector so as to harness resources for economic development. It can be argued that nationalisation became a