Pourquoi le Parti Conservateur a-t-il perdu trois élections consécutives, alors qu'il s'agissait du parti dominant dans la sphère politique britannique dans les années 1980 et au début des années 1990 ?

Résumé du document

During the twenty century the political landscape in Britain was dominated by one party: the Conservatives. Created in 1900 by the regrouping of British trade-unions, Labour's first aim was to respresent the working class. Unlike Labour party the Conservative party hasn't got a real historic date to situate its date of birth. It was the heir of one of the two parliamentary groups existing during the XVII century: The Tories. From the beginning, the Conservative party had a hierarchical structure with a pre-eminence of the leader. The party's institutions were created between 1867 and 1870 (the National Union of Conservative, Constitutional Associations and the Conservative Central Office). However, the most interesting thing is ideology or, at least, some strands of thought which can be called ideology. First of all the Conservative party is traditionalist (importance of the family, the values), it emphasised order and ? it's the party of the status quo ? . This means that change should only occur in an historical legitimity. The Conservative party is against violent change. It sees the society like a tree which has to grow up slowly by itself. One of the important consequence of this idea is that the ? Conservative party can justify different and often long-term roles and positions in society as being essentiel for society's health ?. An other key point of conservative thinking is political scepticism. It means that justice, equality and rights are not possible in a real world made of pratical approach of society. The Conservative party sees humanity as flawed. This idea result from Eve's original sin which underlines human selfishness and irrational nature . During the XX centuary, the Conservative party was omnipresent, they won almost all the elections. Marget Thatcher in 1979 won the election for more than ten years. She created a real revolution inside the Conservative party and the british politics. In 1997, a political disruption occured: the Labour party won the election in Britain. This victory announced Labour success and was the beginning of a nightmare for the conservative party that lost three elections since 1997. The question is ? why has the Conservative party lost three elections in a row, given that it was the dominant party of british politics in the 1980 and early 1990s? ?. Two main arguments will be developped to answer it. First of all we will deal with New Labour 'strategy because their victory is one reason of conservative's failure. Then, we will focus on thatcherism's consequences and the defects of the Concervative party.

Extraits

[...] P.Norton,'The Conservative party: is there anyone out there?',in A.King Britain at the Polls 2001, p.92. P. Norton, 'The conservative party: The politics of panic', in Jn. Bartle and A.King Britain at the Polls 2005 (QC Press, 2006) , P.42. P. Norton, 'The conservative party: The politics of panic', in J. Bartle and A.King Britain at the Polls 2005 (QC Press, 2006) , P.30 Les études du CERI 38 - janvier 1998, 'Le Royaume-Uni après les élections de mai 1997,changement de gouvernement ou changement de régime' http://www.ceri-sciences-po.org/publica/etude/etude38.pdf. [...]

[...] A new labour party in front of the traditional conservative party The middle way thanks to Thacherism ideology The conservative failure is not du to a simple factor. Even if it would be a mistake to attach too much importance to the ideological change of the Labour party we can not forget the repercussions of this deep political disruption and the victory of three elections in a row. Firstly, it is important to understand the process of paradigm-shift[13]. Margaret Thatcher had adopted the neoliberal economic policies, but the labour party made a transition ? [...]

[...] We must consider internal factors as the politics of opposition leaders and conservative programs campaign during the 2001 and 2005 elections. First of all, some similarities can be find among Conservative leaders. In 1997 and 2001, William Hague and Ducan Smith were elected without a majority; Smith had the support of less than one-tird of Conservative MPs and only a quarter had voted for Hague showing that he was not the first choice of most of the MPs[18]. Obviously, being elected without a deep support create internal divisions inside the Conservative party. [...]

[...] New Labour and Thatcherism, Political Change in Britain Macmillan Press LTD P.9. Richard Heffernan, ? New Labour and Thatcherism, Political Change in Britain Macmillan Press LTD P.10 Kieron O'Hara, ? After Blair, conservatism beyond Thatcher Icon Books P.214. Anthony Seldon and Dennis Kavanagh, ? The Blair effect 2001-05 Cambridge university press p Les études du CERI 38 - janvier 1998, 'Le Royaume-Uni après les élections de mai 1997, changement de gouvernement ou changement de régime' http://www.ceri-sciences-po.org/publica/etude/etude38.pdf. P.Norton,'The Conservative party: is there anyone out there?',in A.King Britain at the Polls 2001, p.72. [...]

[...] From 1997 to 2005, the Conservative party didn't manage to find a refreshed thinking and gave the impression to be opportunistic, a party ready to ? jump on anynpassing populist bandwagon The Conservative party under Margaret Thatcher had a real pogram to come over the divisions and the' New Right' was a political tool concidered as a 'guidbook' whereas in 1997 the Conservative party lost a political coherence and payed the bill of Thatcher's government. Thatcherism's consequences In 1997 the Conservative party suffered a defeat during the elections. [...]