Quintessence Of Thatcherism

Great Britain, after the Second World War, could be considered as the cradle-land of'Keynesianism'and welfare states, which had once eased the tension of economic crisis and class contradictions that had spread all over the capitalist world. Nevertheless, the effects of these economic and social policies are quite limited. In the late 1970s, when Mrs. Thatcher was elected as the Prime Minister of the UK, Britain's domestic economic state had fallen into severe decline as the nickname'the sick man of Europe'vividly illustrated.The Conservative government under the leadership of Margaret Thatcher pledged to make a clear break with pre-Thatcher age decline and brought the country to a new level of prosperity. As a pioneer in the western countries, Mrs. Thatcher abandoned'Keynesianism'and'consensus politics', and turned to the guidance of the New Right ideology and Monetarism. During her premiership from 1979 to 1990 Mrs. Thatcher and her governments did their best to reduce controls and interference into the economy and made privatization the most important, which permeated into almost every aspect of British society. Despite privatization, reduction of inflation had been always in the center of Thatcher's policy thinking, for which Thatcher government pursued policies of controlling money supply, reducing public expenditure, etc. As to trade union abuses and unemployment, Mrs. Thatcher also has done her effort.Debates on Thatcher governments have always been severe. Especially after her resignation in 1990, more and more people are appealing for a reevaluation of her achievements. Thus on the basis of a detailed analysis of the significant features of Thatcher's domestic economic policies, the author is going to make an evaluation on the contributions and influences made and exerted by Thatcher governments for the readers'reference.