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 Cromwells 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

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: of all manufactured production from
UK
z 1905: About of all people on earth
z Pervasive Problem of Decline
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
Youve
h d
it so good
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

1983 Election
Splits in the Left (SDP)
z Falklands War
The Ladys
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

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

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

Browns
Brown
s poisoned
poisoned inheritance
inheritance
Economic Slowdown
z Still in Iraq
z Too many years of Labour
z

The Revival of the Tories

David Cameron
z Compassionate
C
i
t
Conservatism?
z

but is he
anything new???

Hes cute.