In the most explosive book on British politics of the new decade, Monbiot uncovers what many have suspected but few have been able to prove: that big business is taking over Britain.Captive State documents the end of representative government in Britain. The traditional business of government - economic and development planning, law and order, protection of the workforce, consumer and environment - is rapidly being twisted out of its hands. The state is no longer the initiator of policy but an increasingly helpless bystander. Quietly, the state, the police, academia and the nominally independent media are falling into the hands of private business. And as institutional corruption strikes at the heart of public life, in a contest between the desires of big business and the needs of the electorate, the electorate loses out every time.