The New Liberalism - Essay Example

 The New Liberalism The Liberal Party Sweep of 1906 elections in UK ensued launching of a set of reformist policies by Liberal government, which matured in to full-fledged Keynesian, interventionist welfare state, three decades later. It is argued through this paper that the reformist policies have to be seen as a unitary state’s response to pressures created by newly mobilized socio-economic forces like organized labour, urbanization, increased franchise, class consciousness and other spontaneous organizational formations created in the wake modernization process. This kaleidoscopically changing scene is to be viewed in the backdrop of contending leftist theoretical challenges to the core socio-political value structure of United Kingdom. The reformist zeal of Liberal government can also be understood as an attempt at preempting the political rise of Labour, although this effort at accommodation and assimilation ultimately was rendered irrelevant. The significance of 1906 Liberal Government thus is that its reformist response became the starting point in the final crystallization of an interventionist welfare state. This paper will attempt to trace the reasons which necessitated a response from Liberals in the form of welfare policies after 1906. The election results of 1906 returned an overwhelming majority of Liberal party and its Lib-Lab allies. The consequent Liberal government embarked on a reformist agenda which sowed the seeds of an interventionist welfare state. In order to locate the theoretical explanation for this almost radical policies of the ‘ Liberals’, we first need to see the changing political and economic interface of the society . The ‘social activism of centralist state’ (Alexander et all.1995) should be understood in the backdrop of increased mobilization of working class and formation of spontaneous social organizations like various professional societies of skilled and unskilled work force. Increased Urbanization on the other hand not only facilitated the process of spontaneous social organization but brought in to sharp relief the income disparities. As early as 1880s and 1890s, the realization had permeated in the liberal ranks that the problems of the working class and labour’s political aspirations needed to be addressed. As Mr. Atherly Jones, a liberal M.P. commented at that time;” The two primary concerns [for Liberals] are; the need to find a unifying platform for the party which would be capable of sustaining it as an effective political force in the post-Gladstonian era and the need to come to terms with the growing economic and political strength of organized labour. It was axiomatic that the two concerns were closely connected and the ‘social reform’ was the cruicial link between them” (M.P. Atherly Jones quoted in Powell.1986). This thinking matured and welfare of the working class thus was promoted to become the core political issue for the left of center politics at the turn of the century. The time bracket, from ‘1880s to 1920s constitutes a relatively cohesive era of extensive industrialization and mass enfranchisement’ (Alexander et all.1995). It is also stressed that (Pluralist assertion) Socio-economic development is a precondition rather then the result of welfare state reforms, thus defining “development as a process of social differentiation and empowerment that generates social needs and fiscal as well as other state resources as well as political demands for provision of income security” ( Wilensky and Lebeaux.1958; Williamson and Pampel.1993). It means that development precedes the demand for welfare state which is accordingly fulfilled in the form of policy response seeking new patterns of redistribution. On the other hand the development of welfare state has been also attributed to the increase in (organic) State’s ‘specialized capabilities to steer’ and chanalize the stresses it experiences during the process of modernization (Skowronek.1982; Skocpol.1992). The Marxists argue that ‘capitalist development is the source which changes class forces and their balance of power’ (Rueschemeyer, Stephens and Stephens. 1991). This means that capitalism through welfare policies redirect and redistribute the power of class forces and tries to assimilate the classes creating new elite in its own reflection. It is however argued that a singular theoretical approach does not fulfill our requirement to determine the dynamics and contours of development of welfare state in UK at the turn of the century. Therefore a multi-theoretical approach is more suited for the purpose. It is therefore argued that the society in UK had arrived at a threshold in the course of its development from pre-modern towards modern that it generated new class mobilizations from the working class, creating a demand on the organized institutional political state setup to address the new problems. It also called for harmonizing the various industrial capital and labour interests, which had arisen within the left of center political organization manifested in the form of Liberal party. The welfare reforms thus became the core response of liberals to these multiple challenges. “ Buoyed by its large majority and under pressure from its own radical wing as well as its Labour allies, Liberal Leaders introduced and passed a broad range of economic and social reforms”(Stephens.1982). The 1906 elections also reflect a formation of broad coalition of ‘progressive’ forces as reflected by Gladstone-Macdonald pact. This alliance can be seen as an attempt by Liberals to address the labour issue at two levels; firstly on an intellectual level the rising class conscious labour movement and political assertion, gravitating towards a class based interpretation of politics needed to be arrested, (Powell.1986; pp.371) given the English political tradition of minimizing radical dissent. Secondly at the tactical level liberals needed to accommodate labour demands without alienating ‘it’s’ other groups of supporters’ (ibid). Thus the welfare reforms were essentially a harmonizing response of left of center political caucus. Liberal party saw its role as an essential arbitrator between the competing interests which the modernization had generated. The new welfare policies also meant that the boundaries of state interference were redrawn through legislative measures to ‘ease out the vagaries of capitalism’. In the final analysis it is argued that the modernization process reflected in mobilization of working class and its concentration through the process of urbanization created a political demand side of policy. This demand was also underscored by the rise of political Labour rapidly maturing into an organized political party. The increasing class consciousness of the politicized labour also added to the urgency of a response. The Welfare Reforms were the supply side of policy to accommodate these stresses within the English political tradition. Bibliography: 1. Alexander Hicks, Joya Misra; Tang Nah Ng (1995), The Programmatic Emergence of Social Security State; American Sociological Review, Vol.60, No.3 (Jun.1995) pp.329-349 2. Powell David, (1986),: The New Liberalism and the Rise of Labour; The Historical Journal, Vol.29, No.2. (Jun 1986) pp. 369-393. 3. Wilensky Harold, & Charles Lebeaux (1958); Industrial Society and Welfare State. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. 4. Williamson, Joun H and Fred C. Pampel (1993); Old Age Security in Comparative Perspective. New York: Cambridge University Press. 5. Skowroneck, Stephen (1982). Building a New American State: Expansion of National Administrative Capacities, 1877-1920. Cambridge England: Cambridge University Press. 6. Skocpol Theda, (1992): Protecting Soldiers and Mothers. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press. 7. Stephens Hugh W. (1982). Party Realignment in Britain, 1900-1925: A Preliminary Analysis: Social Science History Vol. 6, No.1 (Winter 1982) pp. 35-66. 8. Rueschemeyer, Dietrich, Evelyn Huber Stephens and John Stephens (1991): Capitalism Development and Democracy. Chicago IL; University of Chicago Press. Read More