Does Thatcherism Mark a Radical Break in British Politics - Essay Example

? Does Thatcherism mark a radical break in British Politics? Introduction Starting from 1979 with the first female British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, the ideology of Thatcherism refers to a political system of conviction that resulted in radical economic and social policy changes leading to the formulation of a conservative creed of politician. The political system later became popular among other British politicians after Thatcher, such as John Major, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and David Cameron (Thatcher & Harris, 1997). The subsequent leadership of the country embraced the system thus justifying the claims that Thatcherism marked a radical break in the British politics. The political system implemented a number of social and economic reforms that stabilized the British society on the pillars of constant economic growth and peaceful coexistence of the citizens. The political ideologies fostered by Thatcherism fostered a classical liberalism comparable to the Rogernomics in the United States of America, in New Zealand and the economic rationalism in Australia. The system promoted reduction in the inflation rates and a free market implemented via a tight control of the supply of money into the market. These economic policies resulted in extensive privatization of some of the previous government institutions to give the citizens more control of the economy; it also led to extensive labor reforms (Johnson, 1988). The labor reforms made working conditions better for most of the civil service, and the expansion of the private sector increased the sector’s ability to offer more employment to the population. All these efforts contributed to the development of a strong economy that was the dream of Margret Thatcher and, as research shows, other leaders that had come before her. Butler, Adonis & Travers, (1994) explain that Thatcherism as a system of politics introduced a unique system of governance that the previous regimes had not thought of before. After assuming office in 1979, Thatcher understood why numerous critics had previously referred the country to as ungovernable. Thatcher, on the contrary, sought to stamp her authority as the leader of the most famous political party and as the leader of the government. In most occasions, she bypassed a number of preexisting structures of governance such as parliamentary and cabinet commissions and portrayed a more personal leader of the government especially during crises. This form of administration proved fundamental in times of crises, Thatcher stamped her authority during the Falkland wars and the IRA bombs both in which she took over the management of the military and brought sanity and order once again (Adeney & Lloyd, 1988). With the wide success of the more personal form of administration, Thatcher managed to build a more prosperous society free from terror attacks despite the strong economic growth. The military expanded and developed more loyalty to the leader of the government. The country had previously yearned for this type of governance, and she developed a stable economy, the one in which law, order reigned, and the populace portrayed more spirit of patriotism towards their nation. Thatcher thus tried and tested the new form of governance and passed the mantle to other preceding regimes. To this day and through the elaborative form of David Cameron’s regime, it is evident that the prime minister is more involved with the populace and stamps his authority in the formulation and implementation of policies. Margret Thatcher made official the political system, but prior to her, a number of other political leaders had tried to introduce the radical economic reforms and give more economic power to the common person. The decades before Thatcherism, the country had a less favored system of politics referred to as the Buttskellite consensus. This was a purely capitalist system of leadership that made a few influential persons extremely wealthy while the rest of the population was left in abject poverty. Capitalist system of economy develops a market in which the owners to the means of production employ every tactic to maximize their financial gains at the expense of the ordinary citizens. Such a market system has the owners to the means of production employing every strategy to maximize their revenue collection some of which included mechanization of the production system, which resulted in most companies retrenching their employees and replacing them with machines (Butler, Adonis & Travers, 1994). The Buttskellite political system was less likely to result in a developed state as fast the British population had previously anticipated before the civil war. The labor movement was weak and the weak economy coupled with high rates of inflation worsened the situation as life fast became unbearable for a majority of the citizen (Gilmour, 1992). It is during such uncertain times that the first pro-Thatcherism leaders began pushing for economic reforms in the country. Back the conservative leadership disguised themselves as Attlee post war reforms. Margret Thatcher was party to the middle class alliance, a group within the government that pushed for the implementation of the economic reforms to favor the common persons. She took over the leadership of her party in 1975 and started pushing for the radical economic changes, which she later strived to implement in her tenure as the British Prime Minister. Margaret Thatcher implemented the system of politics through systematic implementation of policies most of which were a reflection of libertarianism. Thatcher herself was a libertarian and created a libertarian movement, which opposed the previous regimes of Toryism. In doing this, Thatcher understood that the political regime could only have an effective implementation under a conservative regime. She thus associated herself and her political ideologies to the conservative party. The rationale behind this was the understanding that the regime of politics required extremely reduced and highly controlled government spending. Green (2002) asserts that the current economic and political state of the country is attributable to the philosophies of Margret Thatcher and the policies she implemented during her tenure. Some of these policies had far reaching effects sought the approval of the House of Representatives, and thus reflected on the country’s legislations. Such policies thus continue to inform the government decisions to this day and have changed the country’s politics and the system of leadership formation to this date. Some of these policies were implemented in the form of legislations passed by the house of representative while other were in other statutes of the country yet others still were safeguarded in the country’s supreme governing document known as the constitution. Among the most common policies and legislations of the Thatcherism system of politics are discussed below. The political system fostered by Margret Thatcher had a stringent economic control with a view of containing the escalating inflation in the country. Prior to her assumption of office, the country had high unemployment rates coupled with a poor economy resulted in inflation like no other in the country (Thatcher & Harris, 1997). According to the conservative party, inflation referred to the presence of a lot of currency in the money market. The prices of products and services in the British market have escalated making the currency have a lover value. Coupled with the single currency used in the entire continent, the British economy way thus faced with a weakness that threatened to cripple the country. It is at such a time that Margret Thatcher took over the leadership of the country and had to reestablish the economy and lower the cost of life thus making life in the country more affordable (Johnson,1988). In her first year of the tenure, Thatcher attached more importance in lowering the cost of living by containing the high inflation. According to her and her conservative party, maintain the rising inflation was more important than creating jobs for the numerous jobless. Her economic policy was to contain the rising inflation thereby making the country more attractive to both local and foreign investors. The country had adequate resources to propel the country towards economic stability and prosperity. Her plan worked and within the first year after the containing the inflation and lowering the cost of living by more than one hundred percent, the United Kingdom obtained her prestigious position in the wider European continent and began attracting foreign investors and creating a conducive environment for trade and tourism. This by extrapolation created jobs for the previous jobless and strengthened the economy. The strong economic policies formulated and implemented by the Thatcher administration have had an effect in the country’s politics to this day under the leadership of the current Prime Minister David Cameron. The country has effective economic policies with a view of containing economic tyranny where the rich live comfortable lives at the expense of the rest of the population (Major, 1999). The strong economy under the effective conservative government regulate government spending thus creating a fair level playing ground for both foreign and local investors thus creating adequate jobs for the population. The United Kingdom has one of the strongest economy in the region and the country’s currency has the highest value in the entire continent coming second only to the joint currency. Another land mark policy that the Thatcher administration formulated and implemented was the trade union legislation. This sought to solve the numerous wrangles between employers and their employees especially in the private sector. The government employees are civil servant and the government had effective mechanisms of attending to its employees, however, the private sector required some regulation that the previous regimes had not paid any concerned. The previous regimes had expressed and defended capitalist interests thus showed no interest on the plight of the poor laborious (Hall & Jacques, 1983). The capitalists thus exploited the laborious making them work under inhumane conditions with little pay and unregulated mechanization of the production system resulting in more retrenchment. The Thatcher regime sought to reverse the sorry condition by formulating the trade union legislation. This legislation allowed employees to form trade unions that to defend their rights and present their plights to the authorities. Trade unions provided the laborious with an effective platform of raising their issues and made defending the plights of the laborious easier. Workers through their unions joined hands in defending their working conditions thereby compelling employers to flex their employment terms to better the working conditions of the workers. Coupled with the revamped economy and the lowered inflation rates, workers lives changed with the improved working conditions thus improving the quality of life in the country. Additionally, Thatcherism introduced conservative morality in the United Kingdom’s politics responsible for the creation of the modern day political platform. In effecting the authoritarian populism, Thatcher sought to stamp authority thus redefine the country’s politics and in doing this she had to appear extremely authoritarian. Her critics as being overly authoritarian viewed some of her legislations and policies but in a way, they brought financial sanity in the country thus redefining the country’s politics. Initially, politics in Britain was a tool for the rich capitalists to manipulate power and favor their revenue. In doing this, they financed politicians through expensive campaigns with a view of obtaining favors through favorable policies. The Thatcher administration and the entire Thatcherism political system sought to change the system and in turn implement real democracy, one which represented the interest of the people unlike the previous regimes that represented the interest of a select few. The trade union legislation for example fostered the interest of the ordinary laborious, the country had lived for a number of years but the existing leaders never thought it wise to present the interest of the poor labors (Adeney & Lloyd, 1988). The regimes showed more concern to the plights of the rich capitalists most of whom financed the political campaigns. The politics of authoritarian populism ensured that the house of representative elected a people who represented the interest of the people. The Prime Minister as a leader to the most popular party thus enjoyed the trust and affection of the nation and owed the nation his or her election. By this, the prime minister thus represented the diversities in the nation. Thatcher understood that this popularity presented a little resentment from some coffers. She thus stamped her authority by formulating and implementing policies that safeguarded the interest of every citizen regardless of their political affiliation. The authority brought sanity in the country resulting in a source of unity from the prime minister. The country has a number of symbols of national unity and Thatcher through her policy commonly referred to as Thatcherism imposed the prime minister as one additional symbol. This sought to develop a spirit of patriotism and present the prime minister as a national figure and not a sectarian leader. In brief, Margret Thatcher and her brief regime and the helm of the British government did not only implement effective policies relevant to the governance of the country but also created a new term in the politics of the country. Through her economic conscious system of governance, she developed a strong and stable economy in the region, made a previously ungovernable country more governable, and built it to become an economic harbor in the entire European continent. Her reign therefore marked a new political order that assimilated by subsequent leadership including the incumbent Prime Minister David Cameron (Thatcher & Harris, 1997). It is thus prudent to allude that the theory of Thatcherism marked a radical break in the British politics. Bibliography Adeney, M. & Lloyd, J., 1988, The Miners' Strike, 1984-5: Loss Without Limit. Oxford: Routledge. Butler, D., Adonis. A, & Travers. T, 1994, Failure in British government: the politics of the poll tax. London: Oxford University. Green, E. H. H, 2002, Ideologies of Conservatism: Conservative Political Ideas in the Twentieth Century. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Gilmour, I, 1992, Dancing with Dogma: Thatcherite Britain in the Eighties. London: Simon & Schuster Hall, S. & Jacques, M, 1983, The Politics of Thatcherism. London: Lawrence & Wishart. Johnson, M,1988, "Bible-Quoting Thatcher Stirs Furious Debate". London: Associated Press. Major, J, 1999, The Autobiography. London: HarperCollins. Thatcher, M. & Harris, R, 1997, Harris, Robin Harris. ed. The Collected Speeches of Margaret Thatcher. London: HarperCollins. Read More