farmelantj: Concerning Nairn-Anderson, I remember, years ago, when I read Gary Werskey's 1979 book, "The Visible College" about Britain's red scientists like J.D. Bernal, J.B.S. Haldane etc. One of the things discussed in the book was the thesis put forth by Bernal and some of the others that Britain was a country that was in need of modernization. Britain was depicted by Bernal and some of the other scientists as a country where the aristocracy and a variety of premodern institutions still held sway... Somebody: Of course, every capitalist society has it's own collection of anachronisms and relics incorporated into the system. So, Britain had it's aristocracy, a disproportionate role for the City of London, the House of Lords, etc., but the United States has an antiquated electoral system, an anti-democratic separation of powers (that derives partly from an idealization of 18th century England that the old country has since progressed from). Japan has elements left over from the pre-war era, a clannish, even semi-corporatist (bringing that up again) business culture, a rural-bureaucrat alliance that led the country most of the last 65 years, China has it's nominally Communist regime, Italian politics is still influenced by fascists and clerics, and on and on.