‘Thatcherism has fundamentally altered conservative ideology in Britain.’ Discuss. (30 marks)
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- Created on: 01-01-15 17:25
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- ‘Thatcherism has fundamentally altered conservative ideology in Britain.’ Discuss. (30 marks)
- ‘what are core, traditional beliefs and values?’
- Conservatism desires to conserve
- it seeks to defend existing social and political order and traditional institutions
- It is very suspicious of abstract principles
- Instead it prefers to place faith in traditional experience and history
- It reveals a strong belief in social duty
- It is prepared to support pragmatic intervention
- It supports what has been termed ‘middle-way’ economics
- in the 1950s and 1960s most British Conservatives accepted Keynesian demand management
- a mixed economy and even some economic planning
- in the 1950s and 1960s most British Conservatives accepted Keynesian demand management
- Conservatism desires to conserve
- These positions need to be compared with/ contrasted to the essential features of Thatcherism, namely neo-liberalism rather than the beliefs and values associated with One-Nation conservatism.
- These include:
- The acceptance of ideological blueprints, basically the ideas championed by the NewRight.
- A radical rather than conservative approach to change
- A rejection of the idea of organic communities and societies in favour of ruggedindividualism and personal advancement
- Thatcher’s claim that ‘There is no such thingas society’, …etc.
- The desire to create a more limited state (rolling back the frontiers of the state)
- A rebuttal of Keynesian economics
- in favour of free-market, supply-side economics soas to create a thriving enterprise culture
- Looking to individuals to solve economic and social problems
- attacking the ‘dependency culture’ created and perpetuated by the welfare state
- These include:
- The real discriminator in this question is the idea of fundamental transformation
- comparative evaluation of the extent to which conservative values have actually been transformed by Thatcherism
- Conservative thinking since Thatcher left office in 1990 through to Cameron becoming leader
- continued resistance to over-governing and excessive regulation remains a salient feature in contemporary Conservative thinking
- continued opposition to high personal and corporate taxation
- social disorder is still largely seen by most Conservatives as a consequence oflimited individual responsibility
- rather than a product of poverty and social dislocation
- As seen with the response to the riots 2011
- Euroscepticism also continues to characterise contemporary Conservative thinking regarding the EU
- Conservative thinking since Thatcher left office in 1990 through to Cameron becoming leader
- comparative evaluation of the extent to which conservative values have actually been transformed by Thatcherism
- In many ways Cameron has moved mainstream Conservative thinking back to the centre of the political spectrum
- using languagewhich would appear to have more in common with traditional One-Nation Conservatism
- than itdoes with the New Right and radical neo-liberalism
- Thus, there now appears to exist anacceptance on the part of many Conservatives of the view that laissez-faire policies havecontributed to the economic crisis of recent years and to a ‘Broken Britain’ characterised byalienation and anomie
- Cameron has argued for a more compassionate and inclusive form of Conservatism accepting that ‘…there is such a thing as society’
- some regulation is indeed required in the economic sphere, particularly with regard to the banking sector
- using languagewhich would appear to have more in common with traditional One-Nation Conservatism
- ‘what are core, traditional beliefs and values?’
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