... do, as it may be too busy dealing with these new crises to maintain a clear sense of direction. It certainly seems when examining a chronology of the major events in post-war history that few of them coincided with elections, which suggests that the latter may not decide as much as initially appears the case (and certainly less than campaign rhetoric would indicate). Events in both economic and political spheres such as the devaluations of sterling in 1949, 1967, and 1992, the Korean, Falklands, and Gulf Wars (1950, 1982, and 1991 respectively), industrial unrest throughout the 1970s and early 80s have not been associated with elections, yet have often produced changes in and/or reversals of policy from the government of the time. Thus, unless we can determine that there were key changes in political direction at the majority of the post-war elections, it is clear that the hypothesis in the ...

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