The Distinctive Features of Thatcherism and Reaganomics Essay

The Distinctive Features of Thatcherism and Reaganomics - Essay Example It also tries to find out whether the ideologies introduced by these systems are still applicable in the current time economies. Features of Thatcherism Thatcherism is a collection of policies regarding political, social and economic matters that were formulated and implemented during the reign of Margaret Thatcher as the British Prime Minister. She stayed in power from 1979 up to 1990 and was the first woman to be elected as a British Prime Minister. Thatcherism ideologies mainly composed of privatization of property, deregulation and authoritarian system in social policies. Thatcherism is mainly characterized by a conservative system of governance that dominated much in the period of between 1979 and 1990. This system is also characterized by the solid base it created in terms of governance and how much it had influence on the subsequent governments even after its reign came to an end. The system was solely led by one Mrs. Margaret Thatcher who was the overall coordinator and all t he others under her operated in accordance with the system. Thatcherism borrows some of its features from the political and economical cultures that were used during the previous regimes. Some of these political and economical ideologies include the middle opinion, neo-Marxist and the Thatcherite (Manfred 2008, p.40). The Thatcherite was instituted by the conservatists in a bid to put inflation under control. They argued that massive changes needed to imposed otherwise governing Britain would became a nightmare. However, they failed to realize that the agreements made after the war contributed handsomely to the deterioration of Britain’s economical status and its decline in credibility on the international stage. Later, attention shifted from curbing inflation to rebranding Britain’s image on the international scene, regaining the general public’s trust in the government and making Britain’s economy more competitive. All these were arguably achieved thank s to Mrs. Thatcher’s determination and non-despairing attitude. Middle opinion involved a section of the Conservative party criticizing the Thatcherite project. They argued that despite the Thatcherite project being a success; it injected very huge costs into the economy of Britain which was unhealthy for the economic growth of the country. The neo-Marxist was an elaboration of the complaints raised by the Middle opinion. They appreciated the successes attained by Thatcherism but they went ahead to study the policy to find the negative effects, if any, that it brought with it (Manfred 2008, p.45). Successes of Thatcherism Despite all the negative criticism this policy has been subjected to, it also had its share of positive contributions to the British economy and its citizens. First, many have argued that Thatcherism contributed significantly into economic recovery of Britain after the war. This is mainly visible in its quest to control the rate of inflation which was a succ ess. However, this success has been criticized for the huge level of unemployment it brought with it. The policy also managed to instill competition in the economy which facilitated growth of the economy. This was necessary to salvage the image which was heavily dented on the international scene. With these efforts, the conservative party had managed to win back the trust of its citizens. Thatcherism also