Abstract
The economic, political and social domination of the City of London over any other British socio-economic actors has traditionally been at the core of the debate about “British exceptionalism. In particular, the enduring hegemony of the City of London in the history of British capitalism cannot be separated from its peculiar ties with the Treasury and the Bank of England , often considered at the roots of its “pragmatic adaptation”. This contribution will explore how this “pragmatic adaptation”, relying on the friendly regulatory and economic policies enacted by the British government, will help the City of London adapt to the challenges of globalisation and the changing nature of British relations with the EU.
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- 1.
Here it is important to point out that in a Gramscian sociology of power an economic actor can become hegemonic for two reasons: (1) economic power legitimates and renders its dominant position acceptable to the other actors; (2) only an economic actor can trigger that economic development which is considered the prerequisite to gain mass consensus (Gill 1993).
- 2.
As he does not explain the persistent success of the City , here it is necessary to rely on Ingham (1984).
- 3.
See also Anderson’s interpretation of the failures of Labour governments (Anderson 1987).
- 4.
Short-selling is selling borrowed shares in the hopes that their price will fall and that they can be bought back at a profit later on.
- 5.
The Heckscher-Ohlin trade model concludes that a country will tend to export goods intensive in the factor it has in abundance, and to import goods intensive in the factors in which it is scarce (Frieden and Rogowski 1996: 37).
- 6.
The Stolper-Samuelson theorem finds that in each country returns rise absolutely and disproportionally to owners of factors that are required intensively in the production of goods whose prices have risen; and they fall absolutely and disproportionally to factors required intensively in the production of goods whose prices have fallen (Frieden and Rogowski 1996: 37).
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Talani, L.S. (2019). “Pragmatic Adaptation” and the Future of the City of London: Between Globalisation and Brexit. In: Hay, C., Bailey, D. (eds) Diverging Capitalisms. Building a Sustainable Political Economy: SPERI Research & Policy. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-03415-3_3
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