‘Austerity: a Critical History of the Present’

Why history? This is the austerity recovery: uniquely, of the four economic recessions of the last sixty years, this 'recovery' is based on cutting the state, and the scope of its services.Based on this historical analysis then, the argument this chapter takes supports an argument that this unique choice of austerity in a time of growth, taken as the economy has gradually returned to the 2008 level, is the outcome of political compulsion not economic necessity