Coldicott, Isaac Judah
(2025)
Reimagining public infrastructure in Britain: a post-Keynesian and Marxist response to neoliberal stagnation in the energy and housing sectors.
MRes thesis, University of Nottingham.
Abstract
This dissertation critically examines the deterioration of Britain’s housing and energy infrastructure from decades of neoliberal economic governance, arguing that market-centric reforms since the 1980s have prioritised profit over public welfare, resulting in rising inequality, underinvestment, and environmental degradation. By engaging with Post-Keynesian and Marxist economic theories, the research proposes alternative frameworks that foreground public investment, democratic control, and decommodification of essential services.
The analysis begins with a comprehensive ideological critique of neoliberalism, highlighting its structural failings and socio-economic consequences. It then explores the theoretical underpinnings of Post-Keynesianism and Marxism, focusing on their shared emphasis on public welfare, but contrasting their divergent views on ownership, state intervention, and transformative potential. Applying these frameworks to the housing and energy sectors, the study evaluates the implications of communal ownership, regulation, and strategic investment, drawing on historical and contemporary case studies from the UK and beyond.
Empirical examples, from Vienna’s social housing model to the Mietshäuser Syndikat and UK-based community energy projects, demonstrate how alternative economic paradigms can be operationalised. Through sectoral analysis, comparative theory, and qualitative methodology, the dissertation advances a policy vision that challenges neoliberal orthodoxy and reimagines infrastructure as a site of democratic renewal, ecological responsibility, and social justice.
| Item Type: |
Thesis (University of Nottingham only)
(MRes)
|
| Supervisors: |
Bieler, Andreas
Pupavac, Vanessa |
| Keywords: |
Public Infrastructure, Britain, Post-Keynesian, Marxist, Neoliberal, Energy sector, Housing Sector |
| Subjects: |
H Social sciences > HJ Public finance
J Political science > JN Political institutions (Europe) > JN101 Great Britain |
| Faculties/Schools: |
UK Campuses > Faculty of Social Sciences, Law and Education > School of Politics and International Relations |
| Item ID: |
82566 |
| Depositing User: |
Coldicott, Isaac
|
| Date Deposited: |
11 Dec 2025 04:40 |
| Last Modified: |
11 Dec 2025 04:40 |
| URI: |
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/id/eprint/82566 |
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