Michael Moran

How much power does business exercise in Britain and the United States? Are giant firms that operate on a global scale beyond the control of elected governments? Are political parties in the pocket of business interests? All these questions go to the heart of the viability of a modern democracy, and have been given increased urgency since the end of 2007 and the economic crisis that has reverberated around the world. Business, Politics, and Society compares business and politics in two of the most important capitalist democracies: the United States and the United Kingdom. It introduces the big analytical and moral issues involved in the study of business power; traces the historical origins of business politics in the two nations; examines the role of giant firms, and the relationship between business and political parties; describes the special politics of the small business sector; scrutinizes the changing social and cultural environment of business; and sums up by raising problems of legitimacy and reward that are now the stuff of public policy. Boxed features in each chapter also extend the range of book, to business politics in the European Union, and to national systems beyond the United States and the United Kingdom. The book will be invaluable for students of business systems who now need to grasp the political setting of business, and to students of American and British politics, who now need to grasp the impact of business power on the workings of democratic government.

How much power does business exercise in Britain and the United States? Are giant firms that operate on a global scale beyond the control of elected governments? Are political parties in the pocket of business interests? All these questions go to the heart of the viability of a modern democracy, and have been given increased urgency since the end of 2007 and the economic crisis that has reverberated around the world. Business, Politics, and Society compares business and politics in two of the most important capitalist democracies: the United States and the United Kingdom. It introduces the big analytical and moral issues involved in the study of business power; traces the historical origins of business politics in the two nations; examines the role of giant firms, and the relationship between business and political parties; describes the special politics of the small business sector; scrutinizes the changing social and cultural environment of business; and sums up by raising problems of legitimacy and reward that are now the stuff of public policy. Boxed features in each chapter also extend the range of book, to business politics in the European Union, and to national systems beyond the United States and the United Kingdom. The book will be invaluable for students of business systems who now need to grasp the political setting of business, and to students of American and British politics, who now need to grasp the impact of business power on the workings of democratic government.

In this uproarious memoir and meticulously researched cultural journey, writer Michael Moran keeps company with a gallery of fantastic characters. In chronicling the resurrection of the nation from war and the Holocaust, he paints a portrait of the unknown Poland, one of monumental castles, primeval forests and, of course, the Poles themselves. This captivating journey into the heart of a country is a timely and brilliant celebration of a valiant and richly cultured people.

For the first two thirds of the twentieth century, British government was among the most stable in the advanced industrial world. In the last three decades, the governing arrangements have been in turmoil and the country has been a pioneer in economic reform, and in public sector change. In this book, Michael Moran examines and explains the contrast between these two epochs. What turned Britain into a laboratory of political innovation? Britain became a formal democracy at the start of the twentieth century but the practice of government remained oligarchic. From the 1970s this oligarchy collapsed under the pressure of economic crisis. The British regulatory state is being constructed in its place. Moran challenges the prevailing view that this new state is liberal or decentralizing. Instead he argues that it is a new, threatening kind of interventionist state which is colonizing, dominating, and centralizing hitherto independent domains of civil society. The book is essential reading for all those interested in British political development and in the nature and impact of regulation.

A romantic and adventurous journey to the hidden islands and lagoons beyond Papua New Guinea and north of Australia. East of Java, west of Tahiti and north of the Cape York peninsula of Australia lie the unknown paradise islands of the Coral, Solomon and Bismarck Seas. They were perhaps the last inhabited place on earth to be explored by Europeans, and even today many remain largely unspoilt, despite the former presence of German, British and even Australian colonial rulers. Michael Moran, an experienced traveller, begins his journey on the island of Samarai, historic gateway to the old British Protectorate, as the guest of the benign grandson of a cannibal. He explores the former capitals of German New Guinea and headquarters of the disastrous New Guinea Compagnie, its administrators decimated by malaria and murder. He travels along the inaccessible Rai Coast through the Archipelago of Contented Men, following in the footsteps of the great Russian explorer ‘Baron’ Nikolai Miklouho-Maclay. The historic anthropological work of Bronislaw Malinowski guides him through the seductive labyrinth of the Trobriand ‘Islands of Love’ and the erotic dances of the yam festival. Darkly humorous characters, both historical and contemporary, spring vividly to life as the author steers the reader through the richly fascinating cultures of Melanesia. ‘Beyond the Coral Sea’ is a captivating voyage of unusual brilliance and a memorable evocation of a region which has been little written about during the past century.