Magaret Thatcher: a Neoliberal
Margaret Thatcher: Creating a Neoliberal Culture.
Margaret Thatcher had a resounding career as a Prime Minister in Britain. She was loved and hated for her strong handed nature to politics. She drove down unemployment and brought Britain out of a recession through utilizing neoliberal policies. Thatcher increased the power of the private sector with a reduction of government regulation and privatization of public facilities. She took charge at creating a culture that was focused on the individual. Lastly she battled any unions, which sought to challenge the neoliberal values she was fostering. In order to claim Margaret Thatcher as a neoliberal, a solid definition of neoliberalism is needed. The ideology of neoliberalism is grounded in individual freedom. In order to achieve this, neoliberals ask for a system of government that is minimal. There should be almost no regulations that aim at restricting an individual 's freedom (Hall 2011 11). This allows people to act as free agents in accordance to their personal aspirations. To supplement this goal there is a desire for open, competitive and unregulated markets. State-led social engineering must never prevail over corporate and private interests.(Hall 2011 10-11) Capitalism as a market system provides freedom from state intervention and social collectivities. Stuart Hall states how Neoliberals see this “as the optimal mechanism to social-economic development,” (Hall 2011 11). They want to provide equality of opportunity and understand that this has a propensity to create inequality. This inequality is seen as a necessary evil in the creation of freedom, and ask that government not make any attempts to ameliorate the gap between people. The government 's role comes to the provision of securing the freedom of the people it sees over (Hall 2011 11). It does this through various things such as state guided military, police force, and law that protects private contracts. These state facilities
Margaret Thatcher had a resounding career as a Prime Minister in Britain. She was loved and hated for her strong handed nature to politics. She drove down unemployment and brought Britain out of a recession through utilizing neoliberal policies. Thatcher increased the power of the private sector with a reduction of government regulation and privatization of public facilities. She took charge at creating a culture that was focused on the individual. Lastly she battled any unions, which sought to challenge the neoliberal values she was fostering. In order to claim Margaret Thatcher as a neoliberal, a solid definition of neoliberalism is needed. The ideology of neoliberalism is grounded in individual freedom. In order to achieve this, neoliberals ask for a system of government that is minimal. There should be almost no regulations that aim at restricting an individual 's freedom (Hall 2011 11). This allows people to act as free agents in accordance to their personal aspirations. To supplement this goal there is a desire for open, competitive and unregulated markets. State-led social engineering must never prevail over corporate and private interests.(Hall 2011 10-11) Capitalism as a market system provides freedom from state intervention and social collectivities. Stuart Hall states how Neoliberals see this “as the optimal mechanism to social-economic development,” (Hall 2011 11). They want to provide equality of opportunity and understand that this has a propensity to create inequality. This inequality is seen as a necessary evil in the creation of freedom, and ask that government not make any attempts to ameliorate the gap between people. The government 's role comes to the provision of securing the freedom of the people it sees over (Hall 2011 11). It does this through various things such as state guided military, police force, and law that protects private contracts. These state facilities
References: Robertson, David. 1986. “Mrs. Thatcher 's Employment Prescription: An Active Neo-Liberal Labor Market Policy” Journal of Public Policy. 6: 275-296. Groom, Brian. And Pfeifer, Sylvia. 2011. “Privatisation defined Thatcher era.” http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.lib.ucalgary.ca/docview/909517457 (November 21, 2012). Hall, Stuart. 2011. "The neoliberal revolution: Thatcher, Blair, Cameron - the long march of neoliberalism continues."Soundings. 48: 9-27. Moore, Charles. 2011. "The Invincible Mrs. Thatcher." http://go.galegroup.com.ezproxy.lib.ucalgary.ca/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA276179927&v=2.1&u=ucalgary&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w (November 21, 2012). Jenkins, Simon. 2007. “Thatcher 's Legacy.” Political Studies Review. 5: 161-171.