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    In from the Cold? Ben Roberts and Conservative industrial relations reform

    Kelly, John (2015) In from the Cold? Ben Roberts and Conservative industrial relations reform. Industrial Relations Journal 46 (2), pp. 100-116. ISSN 0019-8692.

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    Abstract

    Over the course of his career Professor Ben Roberts became an increasingly vocal critic of the trade union movement and a firm advocate of the case for legal restrictions on their activities. The growing influence of neoliberal ideas inside the Conservative Party, driven by think tanks such as the Institute of Economic Affairs, could have provided him with the opportunity to exert some influence over industrial relations policymaking, after years of political isolation. In fact Ben Roberts remained on the margins of the policy networks that constructed the Thatcherite programme of industrial relations reform. His labour movement background and lack of involvement in think tank seminars and activities made it difficult for him to penetrate the tight and cohesive networks that were integral to Conservative policymaking. In any case his main focus was institution building in the academic world of industrial relations, rather than policymaking in the political world, and his legacy continues today in the British Journal of Industrial Relations and the International Labour and Employment Relations Association.

    Metadata

    Item Type: Article
    School: Birkbeck Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Business and Law > Birkbeck Business School
    Research Centres and Institutes: Birkbeck Centre for British Political Life
    Depositing User: John Kelly
    Date Deposited: 11 Feb 2016 10:50
    Last Modified: 02 Aug 2023 17:21
    URI: https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/14139

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