Why Concorde Failed: Political Economy and the Limits of Techno-Nationalism

This article challenges standard accounts about technological disillusionment in the late 1960s and 1970s that locate opposition to new technologies primarily in environmentalists and the "New Left" or declining trust in expertise. Looking at the critics of the Anglo-French supersonic jet Concorde in Britain, it argues for the importance of political economy to understand the demise of techno-nationalism. Drawing on debates within government, Parliament, the press, and extraparliamentary opposition, the article demonstrates that actually economic and industrial critiques-often voiced privately within the state-were decisive. What united these ideologically diverse opponents was not environmentalism but a shared wariness of state power and the conviction that official deception sustained a looming commercial disaster. It also shows how a lack of transparency and powerful state propaganda masked Concorde's effective cancellation, which demonstrated a deep rejection of techno-nationalism. The conclusion reflects on why Britain sustained its supersonic commitment longer than the United States.