The Making of the Modern British
State
I. Major
j Historical Trends
A. Parliamentary Governance
B. Popular
p
Democracyy
C. Industrialization and Empire
II. Post World War II Politics
A. Welfare State and Prosperity
B. Crisis of the Welfare State
C. Thatcherism and Renewal
D. Blair and “New Labour”
Labour”
E. Brown and the Blair Legacy
The United
Kingdom
i d
off
Great Britain
and Northern
Ireland
The “Union
Union Jack”
Jack
I. Major Historical Trends
A. PARLIAMENTARY DEMOCRACY:
z Magna Carta (1215)
z Tudors and Break with Rome
z Stuarts Monarchy (James I)
z Charles I & English Civil War
Charles I…
(1642--51)
(1642
Lost his head
z Oliver Cromwell’s Commonwealth
z Stuart Restoration (Charles II and James II)
z Glorious Revolution (1688) and Bill of Rights
(1689)
I. Major Historical Trends
B. POPULAR DEMOCRACY:
z American and French Revolutions
z Industrialization and the ‘Industrial Elite’
z First Reform Act (1832)
z Second Reform Act (1867)
z
z
z
z
z
1884: included almost all working males
1918: married women
1928 Single Women over 21
1928:
1969: lowered from 21 to 18
Stripping House of Lords of power (1911)
I. Major Historical Trends
C. INDUSTRIALIZATION AND EMPIRE
z 1870: ¼ of all manufactured production from
UK
z 1905: About ¼ of all people on earth
z Pervasive Problem of Decline
z
z
z
z
Catch-Up
Catchp on Industrialization ((US,, Germany)
y)
Decolonization
World Wars
Postwar Decline
z
z
2nd largest industrial power in 1950
2004: 19th in per capita GDP
The British Empire (1905)
Britain and WW II
z
z
z
World War I
Experience
Appeasement
pp
Course of the War
z Battle of France
(May--June 1940)
(May
z Battle of Britain
(July 19401940-June
1941))
Welfare State and Prosperity
z 1945
General
Election – Labour
Landslide
z Q: Why did the British
give Winston
g
Churchill – as he
called it – ‘The
The Royal
Order of the
Boot’?!?!?
Welfare State and Prosperity
z
z
1942 Beveridge
g Report
p
(advocating
(
g ‘cradle to
grave’ welfare system)
Elements of ‘Welfare State’
z National Health System
(NHS -- 1946)
z National Insurance Act
(1946)
z Nationalized the coal, steel,
electricity, gas, public
transport, etc. industries
Clement Attlee
The ‘Postwar
Postwar Consensus’
Consensus
Return of Conservatives (1951)
z ‘Postwar Consensus’ (or ‘Butskellism’)
z
Welfare
W
lf
St
State
t (especially
(
i ll the
th NHS)
z Nationalization of Key Industries
z Full Employment Policies
z Keynesian Demand management
z ‘Soft Corporatist’ Politics
z
Postwar British Prime Ministers
Eden and Suez
Crisis (1956)
z Macmillan –
‘Y ’ never had
‘You’ve
h d
it so good’
z
z
z
Anthony Eden
Harold Wilson
Alec
l DouglasDouglas
l -Home
Wilson the
Modernizer
NEDC
z Devaluation
z
Harold Macmillan
B. Crisis of the Welfare State
Relative Economic Decline
z Heath and the UU-Turn
z 1973 Coal Miners Strike
z Labour and the
‘Social
‘S i l C
Contract’
t t’
z Corporatism and ‘Incomes
Policy’
P li ’
z The ‘Winter of Discontent’
z
Trash piles up in central
London during the ‘Winter
Of Discontent’ 1978-79
Ted Heath ponders
a U-turn
C. Thatcherism and Renewal
z
Elements of Thatcherism
Monetarism
z Reducing Taxation and Spending
z Reducing the Power of the Trade Unions
z Privatization of State Owned Industries
z Deregulation of the Economy
z
z
1983 Election
Splits in the Left (SDP)
z Falklands War
“The Lady’s
z Economic Recovery
not for turning…”
z
Success and Demise of Thatcher
1984 Miners’ Strike
z Full
Full--Scale Privatization
z Economic Boom
z 1987 General Election
z Political Problems
z
Recession
z Europe
z ‘Poll Tax’
z
z
Thatcher says: ‘No, no, no!’
Leadership Challenge and Resignation
90.0
Rest of G-7
Q: Did Thatcherism work???
UK per capita GDP against Rest of G-7
110.0
105.0
100.0
95.0
85.0
2
2005
2
2004
2
2003
2
2002
2
2001
2
2000
1999
1998
1997
1996
1995
1994
1993
1992
1991
1990
1989
1988
1987
1986
1985
1984
1983
1982
1981
1980
1979
1978
1977
1976
1975
1974
1973
1972
1971
1970
Rest of G-7
UK
Tony Blair
Elected
John
Major
80.0
75.0
Major, Blair, and The Rise of
‘New Labour’
John Major and the 1992 Election
z Problems for the Tories
z
z
z
z
z
Economic Competence Shattered
Divisions within Conservative Party
Changes in Labour Party
Tony Blair and ‘New Labour’
z
z
R d i g the
Reducing
th Power
P
off the
th Unions
U i
Clause 4
Tony Blair promises
better things…
John Major has
a tough time
New Labour in Power
Constitutional Reform
z Economic Management & Public Spending
z Britain as a Leading European Economy
z Three Landslide Election Victories
z Divisions
Di i i
within
ithi the
th Labour
L b
P
Party
t
z
The Iraq War
z Gordon Brown as ‘Heir’
z
Gordon and Tony
run the show..
Gordon Brown and the Blair Legacy
z
Brown’s
Brown
s ‘poisoned
poisoned inheritance’
inheritance
Economic Slowdown
z Still in Iraq
z Too many years of Labour
z
z
The Revival of the Tories
David Cameron
z ‘Compassionate
‘C
i
t
Conservatism’?
z
…but is he
anything new???
“He’s cute….”