ABSTRACT
In the early history of capitalism, beginning with the absolutist state, developmental class coalitions were narrow and authoritarian, but today, when modern societies are democratic, only increasingly broad developmental class coalitions will be able to guarantee the legitimacy of the state and its government. In the United Kingdom, France and Belgium, which have experienced all the phases of capitalism, after their developmental industrial revolution a liberal class coalition and a liberal state were dominant for the hundred years or so after 1830. This chapter presents three historical cases of developmental class coalitions: the case of mercantilist capitalism, which gave rise to the Industrial Revolution of Britain, Belgium and France; the case of Bismarck's Germany; and the case of the social democratic and developmental class coalitions after World War II. The expansion of merchant capitalism occurred in tandem with technical innovations and changes in the structure and policies of the West European mercantilist states.
