Since the 2007-8 financial crisis and its aftershocks, international capitalism has once again been in crisis. The crisis has been particularly marked in the UK and its outcome is currently unclear. A Nation in Crisis: Division, Conflict and Capitalism in the United Kingdom is a new book by Neville Kirk that examines the systemic crisis facing the nations of the UK. The book is set for publication by Bloomsbury in October 2023.

Based upon a wealth of sources, from newspapers, journals, government, political party and polling organisation publications, as well as archival and secondary material, A Nation in Crisis traces events from the period following the 2016 EU referendum up to 2022, a period during which the crisis intensified and became more widespread.

Kirk covers the elections of 2017 and 2019, political fragmentation, Scottish nationalism, Brexit, the coronavirus pandemic, continuing economic problems and conflicts around class, gender, race and nation. Finally, the book considers competing pathways out of the current impasse. Through his thorough examination of the UK’s main political parties and players, Kirk offers the reader a new and original understanding of how we reached the present situation.

Neville Kirk is emeritus professor of social and labour history at Manchester Metropolitan University. He is a member of the Society for the Study of Labour History’s executive committee, and serves on the advisory board of Labour History Review.

A Nation in Crisis can be pre-ordered on the Bloomsbury website. Find out more.