What were the main factors of the collapse of " Social Democracy " in Britain?

Résumé du document

After the Second World War, the British political and economic landscape underwent a radical transformation in its own foundations. Indeed, the previous economic orthodoxy that had characterized the governing of Britain was substituted by a Keynesian form of welfare state. It was the beginning of a period of social democracy, best known as the post war consensus, during which there was a general agreement around the five core characteristics of policy-making. The first of these pillars was the creation of the welfare state, which according to Rodney Lowe can be defined as a "synonym for a given range of social services provided by the government". In order to present and analyze this painting of social democracy in Britain, it is necessary to define the concept. As it is pointed out by Tom Clark, social democracy is in fact specific to a certain historical moment. Indeed, it is after the Second World War that the majority of Western parties included this notion and its implications in their programs.

Extraits

[...] We can therefore identify here the first move to more orthodoxy in economic policy making. What is more, in April 1975, the chancellor Denis Healey presented his first deflationary budget, in which it was planned to raise incomes taxes and VAT, and to turn to public expenditure cuts[35]. The separation from the left was also visible in other spheres. Indeed, the left wing of the party campaigned for the rejection of the renegotiated terms of the entry into the European Common Market, and favoured leaving it[36], whereas the party leadership campaigned for the acceptance. [...]

[...] Wickham-Jones, “Social Democracy in hard times. The economic record of the Labour Government 1974-1979”, Twentieth Century British History (1992), pp. 32-58, p David Coates, Labour in Power ? A Study of the Labour Government 1974- 1979, Longman p Colin Hay, “Narrating crisis: the discursive construction of the “Winter of Discontent””, Sociology 30(2) (1996), pp. 253-277, p M. Artis, D. Cobham, M. Wickham-Jones, “Social Democracy in hard times. The economic record of the Labour Government 1974-1979”, Twentieth Century British History (1992), pp. [...]

[...] To conclude, it would not be accurate to talk about a “collapse” of social democracy during the Labour party governments of Harold Wilson and James Callaghan. Indeed, the deviation from social policies and from the post war consensus appears more to be an erosion. This erosion comes from a series of factors which can be divided into two categories: first, the domestic imperatives and political weakness which forced the government to redefine its priorities and objectives at the price of not being able to implement its radical electoral programmes. [...]

[...] 253-277 Tom Clark, limits of Social Democracy? Tax and Spend under Labour, 1974-1979”, Working Paper n°64/01, Department of Economic History, London School of Economics, June 2001 Political statements Labour's programme for Britain: annual conference 1973, London: Labour Party Let us work together: Labour's way out of the crisis, The Labour Party manifesto 1974 (foreword by Harold Wilson), London: Labour Party Chris Howell, British variety of capitalism: institutional change, industrial relations and British politics”, British Politics (2007), pp. 239-263, p Rodney Lowe, Second World War, Consensus, and the Foundation of the Welfare State”, Twentieth Century British History 1 (1990), p Rodney Lowe, Second World War, Consensus, and the Foundation of the Welfare State”, Twentieth Century British History 1 (1990), p Chris Howell, British variety of capitalism: institutional change, industrial relations and British politics”, British Politics (2007), pp. [...]

[...] What were the main factors of the collapse of Social Democracy in Britain? After the Second World War, the British political and economic landscape undergoes a radical transformation in its own foundations. Indeed, the previous economic orthodoxy that had characterized the governing of Britain is substituted by a Keynesian form of welfare state[1]. It is the beginning of a period of social democracy best known as the post war consensus, during which there is a general agreement around the five core characteristics of policy-making. [...]