Developments in British Politics 3 Also available from Macmillan Education Peter Hall, Jack Hayward and Howard Machin (eds) DEVELOPMENTS IN FRENCH POLITICS Gordon Smith. William E. Paterson and Peter H. Merkl (eds) DEVELOPMENTS IN WEST GERMAN POLITICS Stephen White, Alex Pravda and Zvi Gitelman (eds) DEVELOPMENTS IN SOVIET POLITICS Forthcoming Patrick Dunleavy ANALYSING BRITISH POLITICS Gillian Peele, Christopher Bailey and Bruce Cain (eds) DEVELOPMENTS IN AMERICAN POLITICS Developments in British Politics 3 Edited by Patrick Dunleavy Andrew Gamble Gillian Peele M MACMILLAN Publishers' note This book is designed as a direct replacement for Developments in British Politics 2 (see next page) Editorial matter and selection © Patrick Dunleavy, Andrew Gamble and Gillian Peele 1990 Individual chapters (in order) © Patrick Dunleavy; Norman Barry; W. L. Miller; Gillian Peele; Patrick Dunleavy; Gerard Stoker, Helen Wallace; Paul Whiteley; Albert Wealc; Hugh Ward, David Samways and Ted Benton; Steve Smith; Brendan O'Leary; Cento Veljanovski; Geoff Whitty; Colin Crouch; Andrew Gamble 1990 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 33-4 Alfred Place, London WC1E 7DP. Any person who docs any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. First published 1990 This book replaces Developments in British Politics (first published 1983, reprinted 1983, revised edition 1984, reprinted with corrections 1985) and Developments in British Politics 2 (first published 1986, reprinted 1987, reprinted with corrections 1987, revised edition 1988, reprinted 1989) Published by MACMILLAN EDUCATION LTD Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 2XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world Typeset by Footnote Graphics, Warminster, Wilts British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Developments in British politics 3. 1. Great Britain. Politics I. Dunleavy, Patrick II. Gamble, Andrew III. Peele, Gillian 1949- 320.941 ISBN 978-0-333-51368-2 ISBN 978-1-349-20795-4 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-20795-4 Contents List of Contributors x1 Preface xm 1 Introduction: Prospects for British Politics in the 1990s Patrick Dunleavy 1 The Ageing of the Government 2 Party Pendulum Effects 4 Development of the New Right Project 6 A New Public Agenda? 10 Conclusion 13 PART ONE: THE POLITICAL SYSTEM 2 Ideology Norman Barry 17 Consensus: An Ancien Regime? 19 Sources of Disharmony 20 Theoretical Origins ofThatcherism 21 'Marketing' the Market 22 Markets and Conservative Morality 24 The Attack on Social justice 25 Questioning the Welfare State 26 Traditionalism, Modernism, and Thatcherism 28 A Retreat from Theory? 29 Socialism in Crisis 31 Socialism and the Market 32 Welfare and Citizenship 35 Civil Liberties and the Constitution 36 The Response of the 'Old' Left 37 Continued Conflict or a New Consensus? 37 3 Voting and the Electorate W. L. Miller 42 Sociological Model 46 v VI Contents Party Identification Model 49 Rational Choice Model 52 Dominant Ideology Model 55 Voting Contexts 61 The local election context 62 The byelection context 63 General elections 64 The Euro-election context 65 Conclusions 67 4 Parties, Pressure Groups and Parliament 69 Gillian Peele The Nature of the Party System 70 The Conservatives in power 72 The future of the Conservative leadership 74 Conservative Party dissent 76 Rebuilding the Labour Party 77 Labour's image 78 The policy review 79 Black sections 80 Constitutional reform 81 Party organisation 82 The Fragmentation of the Centre 84 Scotland and the National Question 86 Pressure Group Politics 88 Parliament 91 House of Lords 94 Conclusion 94 5 Government at the Centre 96 Patrick Dunleavy Central Government and the Central State 97 The Core Executive: PM and Cabinet 101 PM's personal predominance 102 Prime ministerial clique view 103 Cabinet government 105 Ministerial government 106 Segmented decisions 108 Bureaucratic control models 110 Contents vn The Civil Service II 0 The Intelligence Services 116 Crises, Conflicts, and Policy-Making 121 Conclusions: Thatcherism and the Central State 124 6 Government Beyond Whitehall Gerry Stoker 126 The Main Agencies ofSub-Central Government 126 Local authorities 127 The National Health Service 129 National quasi-governmental agencies 129 Local and regional QGAs 130 Developments in Sub-Central Government 132 Restructuring local government 133 The reform of the NHS 138 Interpreting the Changes in Sub-Central Government 140 The centralisation thesis 140 A matter of party advantage 143 A triumph ofNew Right ideology 144 Conclusion 147 7 Britain and Europe Helen Wallace 150 The European Political Context 151 British Adaptation to Europe in the Mid-1980s 15 7 The sovereignty issues 158 The European Community Changes Gear 159 A European agenda defined in London 160 The institutional price of policy victory 161 European Policies and British Interests 162 Conservative reservations 163 Monetary dilemmas and British policy 165 The social dimension and party attitudes 166 Shifting external policy interests 167 The Implications for British Policy 168 The Impact on British Politics 170 PART Two: PUBLIC POLICY 8 Economic Policy Paul Whiteley 175 The Characteristics ofEconomic Policy-Making 176 vm Contents Macroeconomic Policy, 1979-89 179 Early monetarism 17 9 Pragmatic monetarism 186 'Reverse' monetarism 188 After Lawson 191 Macro-Effects on Microeconomic Policy, 1979-88 191 The Thatcher Experiment - Conclusions and Prospects 194 9 Social Policy Albert Weale 197 The Programmes 200 The Politics oflncome Maintenance 203 The 1985 Social Security review 205 Effects of the reform 208 The Politics ofHealth Care 210 NHS expenditure 211 The NHS review 213 Opposition to NHS reforms 215 Other Dimensions ofWelfare 217 I 0 Environmental Politics and Policy 221 Hugh Ward with David Samways and Ted Benton Environmental Politics 222 The arrival of the Greens 222 Environmentalism in other parties 224 How Environmental Policy is made 224 Energy and Electricity Privatisation 228 Transport 232 Agriculture 234 Water Pollution 237 European and International Dimensions 239 Conclusions 243 II Foreign and Defence Policy Steve Smith 246 The Traditional Model 248 Constant features 249 Changing features 251 External Influences on British Policy 253 Modernisation 253 Multilateralism 254 Contents ix Interdependence 255 The Contemporary Foreign Policy-Making Process 258 The Contemporary Defence Policy-Making Environment 259 Current Problems 262 Conclusions 264 PART THREE: CURRENT ISSUES 12 Northern Ireland and the Anglo-Irish Agreement Brendan O'Leary 269 The Content of the Agreement and its Rival Interpretations 271 Anglo-Irish Relations 273 The Political Process in Northern Ireland 278 Socialjustice and Legal justice 284 Fair employment 285 Legal justice 286 Violence and Security 288 Conclusion 290 13 The Political Economy of Regulation 291 Cento Veljanovski What is Regulation? 292 Competing Models of Regulation 293 Nationalisation- Designed to Fail 295 The Evolution of Regulatory Policy 297 Privatisation 297 Liberalisation 299 European Community 300 The Proliferation of Watchdogs 301 The Techniques of Intervention 302 Prospects for the Future 303 14 The Politics of the 1988 Education Reform Act 305 Geoff Whitry The Great Education Reform Bill 307 Opposition to the Bill 310 Effects of the Education Reform Act 311 A New Politics ofEducation? 315