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Political Economy in the Modern State

Political Economy in the Modern State

by Harold A. Innis

Edited by Robert E. Babe and Edward A. Comor

Published by: University of Toronto Press

Imprint: University of Toronto Press

432 Pages, 150.00 × 229.00 × 30.00 mm

Paperback
9781487522926
Published: October 2018

£31.00

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Hardcover
9781487503840
Published: October 2018

£69.00

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Description
Contents
Authors

Political Economy in the Modern State is Harold Innis’s transitional and, in some respects, his most transformative book. Completed in 1946, it is a collection of fifteen chapters plus a remarkable Preface selected and crafted to address four main themes: the problem of power and peace in the post-War era; the ascent of specialized and mechanized forms of knowledge involving, most particularly, the media, the state, and the academy; the crisis facing civilization and, more generally, the modern penchant for unreflexive short-term thinking in the face of mounting contradictions; and Innis’s growing focus on what would be called media bias.

In this new edition, editors Robert E. Babe and Edward A. Comor provide not only a general introduction to Innis’s largely forgotten book but also dedicated introductions to each of its fifteen chapters and a comprehensive index. Together, Babe and Comor demonstrate how Innis’s volume reflects a shift in Innis’s focus, away from analytical relativism towards, instead, a reflexive search for objective truths.

Editors’ Introduction

PREFACE

Editors’ Introduction to Chapter 1

1. THE NEWSPAPER IN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Editors’ Introduction to Chapter 2

2. AN ECONOMIC APPROACH TO ENGLISH LITERATURE IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

Editors’ Introduction to Chapter 3

3. THE PROBLEMS OF REHABILITATION

Editors’ Introduction to Chapter 4

4. A PLEA FOR THE UNIVERSITY TRADITION

Editors’ Introduction to Chapter 5

5. THE UNIVERSITY IN THE MODERN CRISIS

Editors’ Introduction to Chapter 6

6. ON THE ECONOMIC SIGNIFICANCE OF CULTURAL FACTORS

Editors’ Introduction to Chapter 7

7. POLITICAL ECONOMY IN THE MODERN STATE

Editors’ Introduction to Chapter 8

8. THE PENETRATIVE POWERS OF THE PRICE SYSTEM

Editors’ Introduction to Chapter 9

9. LIQUIDITY PREFERENCE AS A FACTOR IN INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT

Editors’ Introduction to Chapter 10

10. UNUSED CAPACITY AS A FACTOR IN CANADIAN ECONOMIC HISTORY

Editors’ Introduction to Chapter 11

11. THE POLITICAL IMPLICATIONS OF UNUSED CAPACITY

Editors’ Introduction to Chapter 12

12. IMPERFECT REGIONAL COMPETITION AND POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS ON THE NORTH ATLANTIC SEABOARD

Editors’ Introduction to Chapter 13

13. DECENTRALIZATION AND DEMOCRACY

Editors’ Introduction to Chapter 14

14. TRANSPORTATION AND THE TARIFF

Editors’ Introduction to Chapter 15

15. REFLECTIONS ON RUSSIA

Index

Harold A. Innis was a professor of political economy at the University of Toronto and the author of seminal works on media and communication theory.

Robert E. Babe is a professor in the Faculty of Information and Media Studies at the University of Western Ontario.

Edward Comor is a professor and faculty scholar in the Faculty of Information and Media Studies at the University of Western Ontario.