The Free Economy and the Strong State: The Politics of Thatcherism

by Andrew Gamble

By the time Margeret Thatcher resigned as Prime Minister in 1990, she has tranformed the fortunes of her Conservative Party. Under her leadership the Conservatives won three general election victories in a row over a divided opposition and enjoyed a degree of political and ideological dominance that led many to speak of the end of the socialist era and the emergence of a new consensus. What Reagan had done in the United States, Margaret Thatcher had done in Britain. A new word—Thatcherism—had entered the political lexicon.
Thatcherism came to signify a wide-ranging and distinctive political project aimed at promoting economic recovery and restoring the authority of the state. This second, revised and updated edition of The Free Economy and the Strong State explores the political and ideological roots of Thatcherism and its relationship to the Conservative tradition and to the economic liberal ideology of the New Right, as well as to the new political agenda which emerged from the advent of recession and the crisis of the world order in the 1970's.
Andrew Gamble provides a clear and thorough account of the genesis of Thatcherism in opposition, its record in government and of the way it has been analyzed by the left and right. His book makes a major contribution to separating rhetoric from reality and understanding both the impact and the limits of Thatcherism in its bid to establish a new political hegemony and tackle Britain's economic decline.

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics, History

Hardcover

First published September 9, 1988

About the author

A review by his hand can be found here

Reviews

[Mir · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gamble describes Thatcherism as a hegemonic project involving ideology, economics, and politics, and emphasizing a free economy and a strong state. However, Thatcherism should not be viewed as a resurgence of traditional conservativism. Thatcher's program required a reorganization of state and civil society, but she failed to create sufficient state machinery to realize her vision of a free economy. Her efforts benefited the financial sector, but not manufacturing, and thus in the long term contributed to Britain's economic decline. Gamble's arguments are clearly laid out and provide a good contextualization of the global economic and political crises of the 1970s.

[Gerry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Andrew Gamble has written an important book. Firstly he comes from a different and more critical perspective as he showed in his critique of Hayek`s work.

Secondly the timing of its publication brought a reasoned eye to the debate on the changes to the British economy from the late 1970s onwards.

Given the present British governments propensity to presentation rather than practice the debates should be considered again

[Stephen Hoffman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Useful book for when I had a university module on Conservative Party politics in 2009.