^aDepartment of Politics and International Relations, and Jesus College, Oxford OX1 3DW, UK

Abstract

Liberal party thinking on ownership questions in the post-war period (defined here as 1945–1989) attempted to find an alternative to both socialism and existing capitalism. Arguing that Labour and the Conservatives were both committed, in different ways, to the concentration of wealth and power, Liberals defined themselves in terms of a radically dispersive philosophy of ownership. This led the party to explore substantial reforms to the content of capitalist property rights and ways of changing their distribution. Although party policy was typically more conservative than some of the party's internal thinking on these issues, an examination of Liberal party thinking in this area adds to our understanding of the specific philosophical character of post-war Liberalism in Britain; of the diverse ways in which capitalism was the focus of critique in post-war British politics; and of the potential alternatives to 'neo-liberalism' in our own day.