Blatcherism
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Blatcherism is a term formed as a combination of the names of two British politicians, Tony Blair (Labour Party) and Margaret Thatcher (Conservative Party). It is used by critics of neo-liberal economics to refer to the thesis that a policy model of the Thatcher government, distinct from One Nation conservatism, was resurrected when Blair came to power.
Editorial comment by Red Pepper before the 1997 General Election that brought Blair to power may be the earliest usage [1]. Another early sighting of this term was in 2001, used by Brian Lee Crowley[2], a Canadian commentator. The term has also been used, for example, by the journalist Alexander Cockburn, in preference to Blairism.
Blatcherism is a portmanteau word. It mimics the much older Butskellism frequently used to describe the post-war consensus on a mixed economy with moderate state intervention to promote social goals, particularly in education and health.
The term is also used as shorthand by Ye. V. Ananyeva (On Modern Ways of Reformism, or On Reformism as Modern Way, Polis Journal - Political studies - No.5, 2001), according to whom Blatcherism is currently "personified by T. Blair", has "substituted for the previous postwar political consensus", and is "consensual" with "neoconservatism as embodied in thatcherism" in the approach to a solution to Britain's modernisation problems.
[edit] External links
- Simon Jenkins, London Times
- Professor Patrick Minford broadcasting via BBC Radio 4 on 15th June 2005, "this government is following Thatcherite economic policies..." - see Patrick Minford
- Chapter 10 of Government and Politics in Britain: An introduction by John Kingdom; page 25 of the PDF file contains the section From Butskillism to Blatcherism? - For those unable/unwilling to handle dot pdf files
- On the spiral from Butskillism to Blatcherism, cause effect process and outcome
