The British Imperial Establishment, Post Imperial Era, and the ‘Churchillian’ World View, 1945-2016. (Adjustments & Challenges in Contemporary British Diplomatic Strategy)

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gradually
came to reflect the changing balance of power among the privileged
classes. But the old elitist pattern was
modified rather than destroyed. The landed
class remained an important social force and endeavoured to
continue its strategy
of compromise with the manufacturing class. The patrician oligarchy adapted to
the
party system by containing it within the shell of the elite mode of
representation.”38 The result was that since the last third of the nineteenth century
an
‘establishment’ based on a more formal method of operation has been seen in
Britain.

Power and Interests of the British Elite

The
necessary, if not sufficient, basis of the power of the dominant, elite
group or the ‘establishment’
is the strategic control of the enterprises which from
the oligopoly sector of the British economy. This
sector of ‘big business’ consists
of the one thousand largest firms in the economy, these firms
dominating the
various markets in which they operate. The structural basis of the petit
bourgeoisies, is
distinct from but dependent on this big business sector. The sector
of small and medium sized firms is based,
in part, on the conditions of competitive
capitalism. But the basic constraints upon the business decisions
of the firms are
the activities of the large enterprises which supply raw materials, buy finished
goods
or offer credit. It is the structure and operations of the oligopoly sector
which generate the wealth and
hence privileges, including power holding or
access to it, enjoyed by the dominant status group.

In
respect of land ownership, the effect on the nature of the ‘establishment’
of the agricultural
depression of the nineteenth century, which lasted well into
this century, is important. “The long drawn
out nature of the agricultural
depression forced the break-up of the large estates, a process which was
hastened

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