PRIVATIZATION AS INDUSTRIAL POLICY: STATE WITHDRAWAL FROM THE BRITISH MOTOR INDUSTRY

The distinctive feature of industrial policy towards the motor industry in the 1980s was the transformation in government policy from one of subsidizing bl to active encouragement of Japanese inward investment. This article focuses on the key events of the bl privatization and illustrates how the changing nature of the government's relationship with bl and the motor industry was a fundamental influence on policy change. It also examines the utility of policy network models in accounting for policy outcomes in a highly politicized policy environment.