Thatcherism and British Politics: The End of Consensus?

by Dennis A. Kavanagh

Overview

Margaret Thatcher is the only 20th-century prime minister to have given her name to a style as well as a doctrine. Although the final balance sheet of the successes and failures of Thatcherism is yet to be tallied, this book places the government of Mrs. Thatcher in the perspective of postwar British politics. Here, Kavanagh describes how a postwar political consensus—covering full employment, welfare, conciliation of the trade unions, a mixed economy with state intervention, and social engineering—was established with the support of dominant groups in the Conservative and Labour parties. He then shows how that settlement broke down in the face of economic problems, changes in policies and personnel in the main parties, and the challenge to the intellectual bases of the consensus mounted by groups on the New Right. The book concludes with an insightful analysis of the government's record, and of prospects for a new consensus. Mrs. Thatcher has cited the breaking of the consensus as one of her primary political objectives, and in this penetrating study she emerges both as the architect of the collapse of consensus and as its product.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780198275213
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	05/14/1987
Series:	End of Consensus?
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	346
Product dimensions:	5.13(w) x 7.75(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

University of Nottingham

Editorial Reviews

"A scholarly and clearheaded history...Especially strong in its analysis of the trends in party politics that made the destruction of the old consensus possible....Highly recommended."—Choice

"The most comprehensive survey yet of the events and the significance of the Thatcher era...an important reference point for future studies."—New Society

"A perceptive and stimulating history and commentary....The book is a considerable achievement in the field of contemporary history."—Parliamentary Affairs

"[A] careful and well-researched study of the causes and consequences of the breakdown of the post-war political consensus."—London Review of Books

From the Publisher