The Left’s Dirty Job

An excellent, well-organized account of how nominally socialist leaders [in France and Spain] sought to make their countries' industries more competitive in the global economy of the 1980s.

An outstanding job [and] an important contribution to the literature on economic adjustment, especially under leftist governments, and on Spanish and French political economy. It combines a clear theoretical argument with a wealth of data in a well-executed comparative study.

A well-written, exhaustively researched treatment of an important topic by an established scholar. Smith gives us the first comprehensive comparative assessment of the French and Spanish cases, which have begged for comparison. The empirical content is very impressive, and his treatment of the understudied Spanish case will be regarded as especially valuable.

An interesting and valuable comparative study of two socialist governments and their confrontation with the realities of industrial restructuring. . . . The author successfully supports his argument with rich and detailed documentation.

Smith's book emerges from a long-term research project that spanned the period he discusses. . . . This patient, long-term approach is apparent when one reads the text due to its relevant detail, insight, and perspectives. It makes a change to those grand projects which make grand statements about developments in employment relations yet which are based on relatively short stays in a workplace.

Directly engages the important debate about the determinants of national economic policies. Smith's work is a clear, detailed, and systematic comparison of the politics of industrial restructuring in France and Spain in old industries such as textiles, steel, and automobiles. . . . Makes significant contributions to our understanding of comparative political economy, especially in the area of social democratic parties' responses to economic challenges.

Smith eschews monocausal explanations and provides a rich, textured political analysis that he lays out with great clarity. ... This is a good, rewarding work.