Thatcherism: An Historical Perspective

1999 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 17-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. H. H. Green
Keyword(s):  
Political Ideology ◽  
Historical Perspective ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Conservative Party ◽  
The Political ◽  
British Politics ◽  
Policy Agenda ◽  
Margaret Thatcher ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Election Manifesto

Margaret Thatcher resigned as Prime Minister and leader of the Conservative party in November 1990, but both she and the political ideology to which her name has been appended continue to fascinate pundits and scholars. Indeed, since Thatcher's resignation in November 1990, curiosity about her political legacy has, if anything, increased, fuelled in part by the memoirs produced by the ex-premier herself and a large number of her one-time Cabinet colleagues. Since the early 1980s the bulk of work that has appeared on Thatcherism has been dominated either by what one might describe as the ‘higher journalism’ or by political science scholarship, both of which have been most exercised by the questions of what Thatcherism was and where it took British politics and society. In this essay I want to look at Thatcherism from an historical perspective and thus ask a different question, namely where did Thatcherism, and in particular the political economy of Thatcherism, come from?Given that Margaret Thatcher became leader of the Conservative party in 1975 this might seem a logical starting-point from which to track Thatcherism's origins. Some have argued, however, that Thatcher's election in itself was of little importance, in that the Conservative party's leadership contest in 1975 was a competition not to be Edward Heath, and that Thatcher won because she was more obviously not Edward Heath than anyone else. This emphasis on the personal aspects of the leadership issue necessarily plays down any ideological significance of Thatcher's victory, a point often reinforced by reference to the fact that key elements of the policy agenda that came to be associated with Thatcherism, notably privatisation, were by no means clearly articulated in the late 1970s and did not appear in the Conservative Election Manifesto of 1979.

scholarly journals Losing the Discursive Battle but Winning the Ideological War: Who Holds Thatcherite Values Now?

2021 ◽  
pp. 003232172098670
Author(s):  
Stephen Farrall ◽  
Emily Gray ◽  
Phil Mike Jones ◽  
Colin Hay
Keyword(s):  
Survey Data ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Public Attitudes ◽  
New Right ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
Margaret Thatcher ◽  
The Uk

In what ways, if at all, do past ideologies shape the values of subsequent generations of citizens? Are public attitudes in one period shaped by the discourses and constructions of an earlier generation of political leaders? Using Thatcherism – one variant of the political New Right of the 1980s – as the object of our enquiries, this article explores the extent to which an attitudinal legacy is detectable among the citizens of the UK some 40 years after Margaret Thatcher first became Prime Minister. Our article, drawing on survey data collected in early 2019 (n = 5781), finds that younger generations express and seemingly embrace key tenets of her and her governments’ philosophies. Yet at the same time, they are keen to describe her government’s policies as having ‘gone too far’. Our contribution throws further light on the complex and often covert character of attitudinal legacies. One reading of the data suggests that younger generations do not attribute the broadly Thatcherite values that they hold to Thatcher or Thatcherism since they were socialised politically after such values had become normalised.

Political Ideology and Cultural Diversity in South Korea: Toward a Theory of Group-differentiated Rights

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 289-303
Author(s):  
Onjung Yang
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Diversity ◽  
Ethnic Diversity ◽  
Political Ideology ◽  
The Political ◽  
Policy Agenda ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Korean Society ◽  
State Response ◽  
The Government ◽  
Korean State

Korea has experienced ideological changes in the political sphere since society experienced ethnic diversity in the 1990s. The government urgently introduced new policy agenda ‘Damunhwa’ – multicultural – in the wake of up-surging social problems such as embracing cultural differences and human rights of foreigners as a salient issue following multicultural explosion with a large number of foreigners. As a result, many scholars argue that the Korean state response to cultural diversity has shifted from differential exclusion to assimilation toward immigrants in current society. However, it should be mentioned that it is implausible to link assimilation with a successful political ideology to manage ethnic diversity effectively. In this article, I argue that it is time to present a new political ideology for future directions in order to integrate ethnic minorities into a universally acceptable manner through consideration of the theory of group-differentiated rights in the context of Korean society.

scholarly journals Neoliberalism in Britain: From Thatcherism to Cameronism

2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Fuchs
Keyword(s):  
21St Century ◽  
Conservative Party ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
British Politics ◽  
Ideology Critique ◽  
Margaret Thatcher ◽  
Absolute Majority ◽  
Politics And Culture ◽  
General Elections ◽  
The Relationship

The Conservative Party has in the 2015 British general elections won an absolute majority under David Cameron’s leadership. Cameron’s rule signifies a contested phase in British politics in the 21st century. This paper asks the question: What is Cameronism? Cameron argues that Margaret Thatcher “was a big influence” for him. It is therefore appropriate to study the relationship between Thatcherism and Cameronism. The article revisits theories of Thatcherism and analyses how it is related to Cameronism. Thatcherism and Cameronism are understood as being unities of ideology and policies that want to implement a particular model of society and for doing so, are organised along three dimensions: the economy, politics, and culture. An ideology critique of key speeches, interviews and documents analyses these three dimensions of Cameronism.

Opposition weakness will empower Canada's Trudeau

2016 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Prime Minister ◽  
The Political ◽  
Policy Agenda ◽  
Federal Election ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Labour Unions ◽  
Federal Level ◽  
Political Clout ◽  
One Year ◽  
The One

Significance Canada's opposition parties are engaged in protracted, 18-month contests to elect their next leaders, who will challenge Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the governing Liberals in the 2019 federal election. With Trudeau passing the one-year mark in office, many of both parties' most prominent figures are sitting the races out, judging Trudeau's electoral position unassailable. However, once the leadership contests gain momentum, they will reveal important political and policy splits that could offer early indications of Trudeau's prospects for re-election. Impacts The governing Liberals will legislate mostly unchallenged at the federal level. However, provincial premiers may be a source of more robust opposition to Trudeau's policy agenda. The internal divisions in the NDP may diminish the political clout of labour unions in Ottawa. A pro-business centrist Conservative leader could alienate social conservatives and shake loose a splinter movement.

1. The Starting Point

2021 ◽  
pp. 5-29
Author(s):  
Peter John
Keyword(s):  
The Political ◽  
British Politics ◽  
Parliamentary Democracy ◽  
House Of Commons ◽  
Party Government ◽  
Institutional Rules ◽  
Nation States ◽  
House Of Lords ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Uk

This chapter discusses what makes British politics distinctive and recognizable: its parliamentary democracy, uncodified constitution, and pattern of party government. It begins by outlining some recent events that have made British or UK politics so fascinating and controversial. The chapter then describes the political system, particularly the institutional rules that affect what happens and govern how politics takes place. Parliament, composed of the House of Commons, House of Lords, and the Crown, is the supreme legal authority in the UK. The chapter also provides a summary of the British constitution. It places the UK in a comparative context, to be studied alongside other nation states. Finally, the chapter sets out the information and concepts that help in understanding the nature of and limits to British democracy.

From Thatcher to May and beyond

2018 ◽  
pp. 121-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meryl Kenny
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equality ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
British Politics ◽  
Leadership Positions ◽  
Margaret Thatcher ◽  
Female Candidates

This chapter considers the place of women in British politics and how it has changed since the election of Britain’s first female prime minister, Margaret Thatcher. It examines how the issue of gender featured in the campaign and in parties’ manifestos, before analysing the different parties’ records on selecting female candidates. It describes how women increasingly hold leadership positions in British politics but concludes that, without further action in the form of quotas, full gender equality at Westminster is unlikely to be achieved any time soon.

scholarly journals Brexit: Reasons, Political Background, Implications

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 98-119
Author(s):  
E. V. Ananieva
Keyword(s):  
Prime Minister ◽  
Conservative Party ◽  
Social Model ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Consequences ◽  
Colonial Empire ◽  
Migration Crisis ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Overseas Territories ◽  
The Eu

In the 1960s after the collapse of the colonial empire, the European direction became more important for Britain than relations with overseas territories. For Britain membership in the EEC and subsequently in the EU was a forced measure for the lack of an alternative. Britain gained a strong position in the integration group, but became “an inconvenient partner” in it, demanding special conditions. In the country there was a constant interand intra-party struggle on the “European question”. Eurosceptics were concerned about the country’s loss of national sovereignty and identity, dissatisfied with the social model of the EU in the spirit of social democracy. Euro-optimists considered self-isolation from the continent as disastrous for the country. The logic of integration led to deepening not only economic cooperation, but also political, which caused the rise of europetceptism in Britain in the conditions of the economic crisis of 2008- 2009, the crisis of the Eurozone and the migration crisis. Against this background, Prime Minister D. Cameron was forced to hold a referendum on Britain’s membership in the EU. The results of the referendum on Britain’s membership in the EU demonstrated a split in society: just over half of the British voted for the country’s withdrawal from the EU. The country is divided on social, age, and regional grounds. Not only socially vulnerable, but socially prosperous sections of the population voted for Brexit. As a result of globalization, the former concern immigration, the latter – the shift of economic power to the East. The political consequences of Brexit are serious. The political consequences of Brexit are serious. Scotland, having voted for the EU, is aiming to hold a new referendum on independence, Northern Ireland is wary of closing the border with Ireland. In the political arena, the struggle between eurosceptics and euro-opportunists did not stop, prompting the replacement of the leader and the Prime Minister (Conservative Party) and the aggravation of the crisis in the Labor Party. The successor of D. Cameron as head of the cabinet, T. May had to announce early parliamentary elections, hoping to strengthen the position of the ruling party and supporters of its line on the eve of difficult negotiations on the conditions for Britain’s withdrawal from the EU. 

scholarly journals Ideology matters: European political philosophy in pursuit of ideological concept of the XXI century

2020 ◽  
pp. 39-59
Author(s):  
Irina Myurberg
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Political Ideology ◽  
The Political ◽  
False Consciousness ◽  
Retrospective Assessment ◽  
Cognitive Framework ◽  
Marxist Ideology ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
New Perspective

Marxist understanding of ideology as a “false consciousness” should be recognized as most influential (in retrospective assessment) among classical theories of ideology of the XIX and XX centuries. The problem of overcoming this understanding substantiates current situation of distrust of the institution of ideology itself. The goal of this research consists in demonstration of fundamental novelty of certain methods of formation of the renewed political ideology that replace Marxist ideology. The establishing new perspective to some extent originates with the political and philosophical classics of the XX century. The starting point of this research is the fact that since the middle of the previous century, the ideology was perceived as one of the most problematic fields of the Western European political thought. The author examines the theoretical-methodological approaches of M. Foucault, enhanced with the method of morphological analysis. Applicable to the problem of modernization of ideology, the goal traced by Foucault lied in determination of the historically specific “discourse order” opposed to neoliberal polymorphism as the political “art of governance” (“the birth of biopolitics”). This approach suggests following the principle of self-criticism in philosophical cognition of ideology alongside other principles. Within the cognitive framework of political philosophy, it manifests as a solution, speaking of the “political”, going into the field of philosophical concepts from the established language of political science to where it is required by the task for describing “regime of the truth”.

A Land Fit for Tories to Live In: The Political Ecology of the British Conservative Party, 1944–94

1995 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 189-208 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Turner
Keyword(s):  
Political Ecology ◽  
Social Engineering ◽  
Conservative Party ◽  
Second World War ◽  
The Political ◽  
British Politics ◽  
World War ◽  
Mass Politics ◽  
The Right ◽  
Second World

Although the industrialised West has seen since the 1970s a very marked leaning to the right both in government and in popular politics, the experience of the British Conservative Party has been unique. The party can trace a continuous existence to the reconstruction of the King's government by William Pitt the Younger in 1784, and is probably the oldest political organisation in the world: far older, indeed, than most sovereign states. In two centuries of life it has transformed itself from the party of monarchy, aristocracy and the Established Church into a highly successful practitioner of mass politics. It has been in government, either as the sole party of government or as the dominant partner in coalition, for seventy years in the last hundred, and thirty-two years in the last fifty. This remarkable political achievement can be explained at many levels; the purpose of this article is to explore just one of them. By bringing together the explanatory insights of political scientists working on electoral sociology with the records of the party in government and opposition, it is possible to discern how the Conservatives used the opportunities of government to cultivate the society which tended, and increasingly tends, to give them victory at the ballot box. This cultivation of the political environment was not exactly social engineering – a project which contemporary Conservatives emphatically reject – but in tune with the biological metaphor of the title of this paper it could be called ‘social gardening’. The first part of the article examines very briefly how political scientists have come to understand the functioning of the British electoral process since the Second World War. The second part explores the process of adaptation which has enabled the Conservative Party to dominate British politics since the war.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document