Chapter 4:Chapter 4:Great Great

BritainBritain

Thinking About BritainThinking About Britain

• Key Questions• Gradualism – the belief that change should

occur slowly or incrementally.• Relative economic decline and its political

implications• The end of collectivist consensus; Margaret

Thatcher’s policies and legacy• Impact of “New Labour” and Tony Blair

Thinking About Britain

• The basics

– The Kingdoms

– The cleavages

• Geographic

• Religious

• Economic

• Social class

The Evolution of the British StateThe Evolution of the British State• Sequential, not simultaneous crises

– Building the nation state– Defining the role of religion– Establishing liberal democracy– Industrial revolution

• The broad sweep of British history– More and more democracy– Persistence of class divisions

• The collectivist consensus – leaders from both parties agreed on a variety of social policy goals; the golden era of British politics

British Political CultureBritish Political Culture

• The civic culture and collectivist years• Widespread sense of legitimacy• Tolerance of diversity• Nationalism

British Political CultureBritish Political Culture

• The politics of protest: Toward an uncivic culture?

– Confrontational political participation and civic unrest; racism; militancy of unions; clash between the left and the right created a far more polarized political system, but the majority of the populace did not take part and grew frustrated with the confrontational politics.

British Political CultureBritish Political Culture• The civic culture holds

– Thatcher’s stand against the left helped sharply reduce the political tensions that seemed to imperil traditional British institutions and practices.

– The analysts who predicted the end of the civic culture overstated the dangers the protest movements posed; revolution was never on the horizon.

– Dissatisfaction with the recent governments had not translated into dissatisfaction with the regime.

British Political CultureBritish Political Culture

• Will there always be a Britain?• Polarization and catch-all parties• Devolution• Cultural and racial diversity • European Union

Political ParticipationPolitical Participation

• The Conservatives• Pragmatic• Noblesse oblige• Organization• Thatcherism and

after

• Labour• Pragmatism• Crisis-motivated

radicalization• Defeat-motivated

moderation• Blair’s waning

popularity

Political ParticipationPolitical Participation• The Liberal Democrats – merger of the Liberals and the Social

Democrats (SDP); the number three party and in some ways the most radical

• Minor Parties – the rise in Scottish, Welsh, and Irish nationalism has led to moderate growth in support for regional parties.

• The British electorate• Interest groups

– Little of the lobbying one finds in the U.S.– Interests groups focus their attention on decision makers:

ministers, party leaders, and senior civil servants; try to influence the drafting of a bill, not how it is dealt with on the House floor.

– The TUC with Labour and the Confederation of British Industry with Conservatives wield disproportionate influence

– Corporatist arrangements during collectivist years; Thatcher government effectively froze the unions out of the decision making.

The British State: Enduring The British State: Enduring Myths & Changing RealitiesMyths & Changing Realities

• Bagehot’s dignified and real parts of the British system

• The Monarchy and the Lords: Still dignified?– Very little power; proposals for reform

• Parliamentary Sovereignty, sort of• Parliamentary parties

• Collective responsibility

• Party discipline

The British State: Enduring The British State: Enduring Myths & Changing RealitiesMyths & Changing Realities

• Cabinet government?– Many analysts argue that Britain has prime

ministerial government• The rest of the state

– Weakness of the bureaucracy– Diluted sovereignty of cabinet and parliament

because of regulatory agencies and QUANGOs– The courts have never had a policy-making role

Public Policy: The Thatcher and Public Policy: The Thatcher and Blair RevolutionsBlair Revolutions

• Break with the past in domestic policy– Thatcher’s “politics of conviction”

brought dramatic change, especially to economic life.

– Blair’s government has accepted privatization and the core of Thatcherism

• Continuity in foreign policy

Public Policy: The Thatcher and Public Policy: The Thatcher and Blair RevolutionsBlair Revolutions

• Domestic politics– Margaret Thatcher:

• The retreat from the commanding heights: Nationalizing and privatizing

• Rolling back the welfare state• Thatcher’s supporters say she saved the British

economy by bring both inflation and unemployment under control and by creating a more dynamic private sector.

• Thatcher’s detractors say she created new problems and exacerbated existing ones by widening the gap between rich and poor and by allowing public services to deteriorate.

Public Policy: The Thatcher and Public Policy: The Thatcher and Blair RevolutionsBlair Revolutions

• Domestic Politics, cont.– Tony Blair:

• Not rolling back Thatcher’s and Major’s reforms• Government spending as a percentage of GNP shrank• Welfare that gives recipients skills to find jobs rather than just benefits• The New Deal• Tuition increase• Tolling London drivers to reduce traffic congestion• Blair’s supporters say he has create the Third Way – combining the

best aspects of the socialist goals commitment to equality with a market economy.

• Blair’s detractors say he sold out the left and created “Thatcher lite.”

Public Policy: The Thatcher and Public Policy: The Thatcher and Blair RevolutionsBlair Revolutions

• Foreign policy– Europe

• European Monetary Union?• Ratify the draft constitution for the EU?

– Iraq• Political ramifications of backing

George W. Bush on war with Iraq

FeedbackFeedback

• British media far more centralized than U.S.

• Broadsheets and tabloids

• Very little local news on television; national news at different times of the day; networks tend to be impartial, but journalists are not necessarily so; interviewers “grill” politicians