Did Thatcherism bring an end to the ‘post-war consensus?’

Résumé du document

Since 1979 the so-called 'Thatcher experiment' or the 'Thatcherism' was at the centre of many debates, partly because Mrs Thatcher's government has broken with many features of the postwar consensus and partly because her government's record is contested (Kavanagh, 1987, p1). But above all, the term 'Thatcherism' need to be define. There are three main visions of Thatcherism. Generally, for the authors, this is a purely political phenomenon, characterized by Mrs Thatcher's personality and style of leadership and her way to govern (King 1985; Minogue and Biddiss 1987; Jenkins 1987), a breakdown with the postwar policy consensus (Kavanagh, 1990; Kavanagh and Morris 1994) and traditional forms of Conservative Party's way of governing (Bulpitt, 1986). Others emphasize the ideological dimension of Thatcherism (Hall, S. 1979; Hay 1996). To them, the Thatcher project represented an alternative to social democracy, set up around a New Right discourse. Finally, for some writers, Thatcherism is, in economic terms, a national response to international crises (Jessop, 1988; Taylor, 1992; Overbeek, 1990). Actually, I will consider 'Thatcherism' as the style of leadership of Mrs Thatcher, her ideology and her politics.

Extraits

[...] Again, this was a deep change with the postwar consensus. (Roberts p.46) To achieve the implementation of all these policies, the government centralised power and used an authoritarian stance. In his book Gamble explains that the need to centralise power came from a paradox: The New Right would like to be conservatives but they are forced to be radicals. They have to struggle against the force which have gravely undermined the market order and which, if left unchecked will destroy (1988, p. [...]

[...] The End of Consensus, Oxford: Oxford U.P - Kavanagh, Dennis, Thatcherism and British Politics. The End of Consensus, 2nd edition, Oxford: Oxford U.P - Kavanagh, Dennis and Morris, Peter, Consensus Politics from Attlee to Major, Oxford: Blackwell - King, Anthony, Margaret Thatcher: The Style of a Prime Minister, in King Anthony The British Prime Minister, London: Macmillan - Marsh David, Kerr Peter, Explaining Thatcherism: Towards a Multidimensional Approach in Marsh David, Post-war British Politics in Perspective, Cambridge: Polity - Marsh, David and Rhodes, R. [...]

[...] But the term of consensus has above all referred to the broad agreement that a mixed economy and welfare state were necessary. This allowed an impressive continuity between the governments. Second, there politicians agree about the regime and the rules of the political game. No institutional or constitutional change was desired. Third, political parties agree about the political style by which policy differences had to be resolved. They thought that a process of bargaining and compromise was necessary to find a policy acceptable to the main interests. [...]

[...] Thus the liberals in the Conservative party, also called the Right' had long deeply criticized the nationalized industries and wished to break with the consensus to set up a market-orientated economy (Kavanagh p.219). Thatcherism was not a new ideology; it deeply rested on the New Right's set of ideas. The postwar consensus was not that strong and was already broken in 1979 During the postwar consensus conflicts about politics still existed. For instance, debates in the Parliament were still sharp, in 1956, during the Suez crisis, divisions appeared and the Labour party deeply refused to become member of the European Community and opposed nuclear weapons. [...]

[...] Mrs Thatcher became the Prime Minister of Great Britain. She was part of the neo-liberal wing of the Conservative party, called the New Right. Influenced by the ideology of the New Right, in her campaign Thatcher deeply criticized consensus politics and claimed her determination to finish with many of its aspects. She believed the consensus was the reason of the government ineffectiveness. For instance, it did not achieve to counter the miner's strike in 1973-4 and the inflation which was increasing. [...]