Unit 1: Political Parties (idealogy and policy) Flashcards
1
Q
Post-Thatcherite consensus [5]
A
- Thatcherism drove Labour more to the left to protect their social democratic heritage
- They adopted more radical ‘socialist’ policies like unilateral nuclear disarmament, withdrawal from the EC, further nationalisation, increased investment in the welfare state
- gave way to adversary politics: anti-interventionalist Conservatives and pro-interventionalist Labour opposition
- ideological divisions within the Labour party due to moving further to the left. This lead to a split - Social Democrat Part (SDP) forming in 1981 and later merged with the Liberal Party
- after a disastrous outcome for Labour in the 1983 and 1987 general elections, they began to modernise the party.
2
Q
How did Labour modernise? [3]
A
- policy review which abandoned policies such as unilateral disarmament and the commitment to withdraw from the EC (all under Labour leader Neil Kinnock - 1987-92)
- this intensified under Tony Blair who became Labour leader in 1994 and rewrote Clause Four in 1995 which abandoned its commitment to public ownership.
- Blair started to refer to the party as ‘New Labour’ presenting its ideological shift to the electorate and distancing itself from it old image.
3
Q
Conservatives under Cameron:
Deficit Reduction
A
- Conservatives started to detoxify their party image following the 2007 credit crunch and the 2008 crisis
- They re-engaged with economic Thatcherism
- proposed substantial spending cuts and structural deficit should be entirely removed within the lifetime of the Parliament.
- coalition with Lib Dems had essentially embraced the Conservative commitment to robust deficit reduction - £81 billion cuts in government spending
4
Q
How did Cameron’s deficit reduction occur without Thatcherite influences? [4]
A
- developments occurred without a return to neoliberal rhetoric of 1980s (rugged individualism and free markets)
- the deficit reduction was ‘necessary’ rather than ‘desirable’
- placed need to restore fiscal balance
- can be seen as an example of pragmatism rather than Thatcherism
5
Q
How did Cameron’s deficit reduction bare the hallmark of Thatcherism? [5]
A
- political choice: the severe spending cuts are a political choice, and differ largely from other European countries that have been affected by the financial crisis of 2008
- Spending cuts rather than tax rises: for every £1 raised through taxation there will be £4 of public spending cuts (this reduces size of the state and Thatcher desire to keep taxes low)
- Growth strategy: as public sector contract, private sector will grow. In favour of market economy and crowding out (overlarge state damages the performance of private businesses by depriving them of necessary resources)
- Privatisation: shift from public provision to private provision - private businesses are usually more efficient
- Welfare cuts: spending cuts affects the welfare state and the benefit system. Thatcher believed that the welfare state created a ‘culture of dependency’ and hinders the economy
6
Q
How does Cameron’s ‘Big Society’ distance the party from its Thatcherite past?
A
- The ‘Big Society’: highlights people’s sense of rootedness and belonging to the institutions of civil society which include family groups, neighbourhoods and locally based communities
- stresses the need for people to do more to help themselves and their communities, rather than relying on action taken by the state and public services (though this can be seen as Thatcherite policy - limited state) But it differs in the sense that it places emphasis on cooperation and community rather than individual self interest
7
Q
In what ways did Cameron bring about a ‘Big Society’?
A
- ‘free schools’
- expand role of charities and community organisations
8
Q
Criticisms of the ‘Big Society’?
A
- it’s based on unfounded assumptions about people’s interests in engaging in community-based activism
- the withdrawal of the state will harm, rather than help, charities and community groups
- it will widen inequality as some groups will be more advantaged than others.
9
Q
What are the four main policies that distanced Cameron’s Conservative party from its Thatcherite past?
A
- Health Spending: promise to increase health spending in ‘real’ terms during every year of the 2010-15 parliament
- Welfare Reform: longer term commitment to create a unified tax and welfare system that has much in common with ‘third way’ (Blairite) which is targeted benefits (welfare to work) public services should be market orientated and consumer responsive
- Criminal Justice: reducing UK’s prison population and placing greater emphasis on non-custodial sentences. Ends the assumption that ‘prison works’. In favour of rehabilitation
- Civil Liberty: Conservatives showed greater sympathy for civil liberties and constitutional reform e.g. a largely elected second chamber. This has created a strong partnership between Lib Dems and Conservatives
10
Q
When was the Liberal Democrat party formed and why?
A
- 1987
- broken away from Labour party because it had moved far to the left during the 1980s under Thatcher governments
- merge between Liberal party and Social Democrats
11
Q
What does Liberalism encompass?
A
- classical liberal belief in a minimal state and a free market economy and a modern liberal belief in social and economic intervention to help people to help themselves.
12
Q
why was there a trend for a coalition in the run up to the 1997 general election?
A
- Labour Party’s modernisation process narrowed policy differences between the two parties: they both favoured constitutional reform
13
Q
What are the conflicts that lie within the coalition government?
A
- ‘wedge’ issues that include:
university tuition fees, bankers bonuses to the future of control orders on terrorist suspects, education (many Lib Dems are sceptical about ‘free schools’) , Europe, Trident and defence generally, NHS reform, nuclear power and civil liberties.
14
Q
what do the terms ‘left’ and ‘right’ back from?
A
the French Revolution
- different seating arrangements for those who supported change and those who supported reform
15
Q
What do left wingers generally support?
A
- social welfare and economic intervention
- (extreme) all property should be owned by the state)
- favour change
16
Q
What do right wingers generally support?
A
- roll back the state
- support free market capitalism
- favour tradition
17
Q
What are the two competing ideologies? (traditionally)
A
socialism and conservatism
18
Q
In what ways has traditional socialism and conservatism declined in recent years?
A
- 1980s Conservative party went through a period of conviction politics (ideology is shaped by its leader) e.g. Thatcherism which led to an abandonment of traditional conservatism in favour of free market
- New Labour broke away from traditional socialist policies by accepting the right for people to buy their own council houses (clause 4)
- Con and Lab are no longer programmatic parties but catch all parties. Short term strategies, less long term
19
Q
What is Socialism?
A
- central idea that people are social creatures that are bound together by a common humanity
- Fraternity - brotherhood and comradeship between people
- Cooperation - a preference for people working together rather than competing with one another
- Equality - the desire to abolish or reduce class divisions
20
Q
What is Fundamentalist socialism?
A
- capitalism should be abolished
- replaced by a system of collective ownership of wealth
21
Q
What is Revisionist socialism?
A
- capitalism should be reformed through social and economic intervention
