General Flashcards
Four ways in which the new right are neo-liberal.
- Minimal role for the state regulating industry
- Low taxation - corporate and income
- Welfare kept to a minimum - disincentive to work.
- Support free trade in Europe
Four ways in which the New Right are neo-conservative
- Traditional position regarding morality and lifestyles
- Authoritarian stance on law and order
- Opposition to excessive immigration and cultural diversity - Enoch Powell
- Opposition to European political integration.
3 advantages of private property?
- People enjoy their property therefore have a respect for others
- Acknowledge it must be safeguarded
- They have a stake in society
* * Promotes values/respect for law/ authority && Social Order.
What does private property provide ?
Security in an uncertain and unpredictable world
Sense of assurance/ something to fall back on.
What is private property an extension of?
Why is common ownership bad?
Extension of personality
Burglary is more than a crime is personal violation
Possessions reflect personality.
Common ownership is appalling because it creates a soulless and depersonalised society.
Conservative view regarding human nature.
Human nature is imperfect -
they seek the security of knowing their place.
Where is crime rooted?
Crime is rooted in the individual not in social inequality
Therefore there needs to be strong deterrents in place.
Hobbes humans seek “power after power”
What did Hobbes advance regarding liberty?
Order?
Prepare to sacrifice individual liberty in favour of social order.
Order ensures life is stable and predictable, provides security in an uncertain world.
Authoritarianism
Belief in the practise of government from above, in which authority is exercised over a population with or without its consent.
Elite are ordained to rule and need to assert their authority to keep other members is society in line.
Modern conservatives have rejected Burkes natural aristocracy in favour of meritocracy.
Individualism
Reaction towards collectivism. People achieve their goals better collectively than individually.
Conservatives argue they have a duty to create conditions in which an individual can flourish.
What conditions does the government need it create to ensure individuals can flourish?
- Economic certainty
- Stability
- Low tax
- Secure international environment
positive liberty
Provision of opportunities / choice for individuals and families to achieve goals to their abilities without hindrance.
Three ways in which to promote individualism and entrepreneurial-ship.
- State justified in curtailing freedom if it promotes individualism
- State give police powers - ensure safety - breed entrepreneurs
- Remove workers rights - employee more workers.
Traditional Conservatism.
- Desires to conserve - defend existing social and political institutions.
- Suspicious of abstract principles
- Places faith in tradition and experience
- Social duty
- Pragmatic intervention
- Keynesian demand (50/60s) & some economic planning.
Thatchers government
- ideological blueprint - new right
- Radical
- Limited state
- Rugged individualism/personal development
- Free markets - create thriving enterprise culture
- Attack the dependancy culture - individuals solve economic and social problems.
protectionism
States advances for British Exports but is unfavourable towards imports.
Ensures it by having high tariffs and low quotas
- Recession
Examples of how Thatcher ensured free enterprise in the economic sphere.
- Reduced taxation
- Sale of council houses
- ‘Role back the frontiers of the state’
- Rejected Keynesian economics in favour of supply side economics and free markets.
How has David Cameron and Nick Clegg ensured free enterprise?
- Cut corporation tax
- Cut income tax
Thatcher - Social Sphere
- Official secrets acts - civil servants were liable to prosecution
- Tighter immigration controls
- Increased police powers
- Section 28
- Rights of trade unions reduced
economic liberalism
Belief in the market as a self regulating mechanism that tends naturally to deliver general prosperity and opportunities for all.
Who influenced the economic policy of Thatcher ?
Milton and Hayek Friedman.
Why did Thatcher favour Supply Side Economics?
To facilitate the creation and operation of a dynamic market economy and a thriving enterprise culture.
Describe how the Thatcher government may have been socially authoritarian ?
-section 28 etc etc
What is the grass roots campaign ?
Linked to the big society
£235M to helping the unemployed
What have the Conservative party legislated regarding immigration?
Capped non EU migrants.
Introduced new language requirements upon entry.
Limited the amount of time that can be spent on a student visa to 3 - 5 years.
How have the conservatives tried to promote equality in women?
Allowed £2M to support female entrepreneurs in rural areas as part of the rural growth network.
Tackling gender pay through greater transparency.
Modern conservative policy regarding crime?
Proportion of officers on the frontline is increasing.
Cut red tape by slashing targets
Doubled the fine for those selling alcohol to under 18s to £20K
What is David Cameron’s government doing regarding NHS?
Increasing NHS budget
Cut NHS bureaucracy by £4.5B
Reduced mixed sex accommodation
What have the current government done regarding businesses?
Cut red tape saving £3B
BofE lending scheme to boost lending to businesses and households.
What has the government done regarding tax?
Cut corporation tax to 26% and to to 24% next yr.
What has the coalition government done to ensure equality?
Launched a charter to tackle homophobia
Consulted on equal civil marriage
What is the current conservative policy regarding justice?
Prisoners earning act.
Two strikes and your out policy
Ended releasing violent prisoners early
Extended curfew (12h to 16h)
What have the coalition government done regarding human rights?
Established a commission to investigate the creation of a UK bill of rights.
What was Heaths seldon programme ?
Radical free market agenda.
Condemned by Harold Wilson
Helped Heath to win the general election
Abounded in 1970 due to opposition
What did Rab Butler and Hugh Gaitskell advance?
Keynesian mixed economy with moderate state intervention to promote social goals.
Hierarchy.
A gradation of social positions or status; hierarchy implies structural or fixed inequality in which position is unconnected with individual ability.
Justify social inequality
Different responsibilities
What is an inevitable feature of the organic society?
Inequality - various groups and classes that make up society have their own specific roles.
There must be workers and there must be managers..
Why is authority necessary ?
Beneficial because everyone needs guidance, support and security.
discipline
Not just mindless obedience but a willing and healthy respect for authority.
Who has the ideological inspiration behind ‘Thatcherism’?
Keith Joseph: ‘cycle of deprivation’. Deprivation in society was inherited from one generation to the next.
The state was creating a dependency culture where families have no incentive to work.
Pat Buchanan (USA)
Opposed multiculturalism - there should be one dominant culture and all citizens should adopt it
Libertarian Conservatism
Constituted a rival tradition to paternalistic conservatism
Edmund (inspired by Smith) advanced that free markets are necessary and natural.
Recognised that workers are often in unwholesome circumstances, this was natural disturbing it would make it worse.
Free markets ensured social and economical order. E.g. Workers scared of unemployment, so no pay rise.
Conservatives placed social order above liberty and freedom.
MINIMAL GOVERNMENT.
Conservative - Defence
- Maintained Britain’s nuclear deterrent.
- Doubled operational allowance for Armed forces in Afghanistan.
Paternalism
Relationship between those who govern and those who are governed is that of father and child.
Positive because the rulers have the best interest of the people at heart.
Conservatives have rejected it in favour of democracy. E.g Scottish independence.
Nationalist authoritarian right.
‘Ultra conservative/ right’
Place the national interest above all other considerations.
Oppose European Union and international organisations in general.
Resistant to immigration - Enoch Powell ‘rivers of blood’
Oppose multiculturalism
Extremely authoritarian stance on law + order + morality and national interest.
Advance pluralism - groups can flourish as long as they don’t threaten national security.
Meritocracy
Coined by Michael Young satire ‘Rise of Meritocracy’
Mixed economy
Economy where there is a mixture of public and private ownership.
The Conservative party and all other party’s accepted a mixed economy. The era of consensus ended with Thatcher.
Nationalism
Protecting the nation from threats. Immigration. EU.
