Neo-Conservatism
There are two inter-related spheres, which this paper will explore. The
first
one asks what the relative appeal of Neo-conservatism was in Britain
and
Germany. The second determines the extent to which Neo-conservative
policies
were successfully implemented in the two respective countries. The
perspectives
chosen here try to explain Neo-conservatism with theories of
social and cultural
change to provide examples of its effects. The New Right
is "conceptualized
as populist Neo-conservative reactions to fundamental
change in culture and
values in a society. Neo-conservatism reflects a new
cleavage based on value
change." Neo-conservatism still fell within the
confines of traditional
conservative ideologies, for example, opposition to
the welfare state and the
redistribution of income. In this paper the
comparison between Britain, a
country with long-standing democratic
traditions and a civil society, and
Germany, which has had strong
non-democratic traditions, a fascist past and the
recent establishment of a
civil society will help to determine to what extent
they has been
'socialized'. Neo-conservative governments came to power in
Britain prior
to 1979, and in West Germany to 1982. Prior to their victory,
there was great
discontent with certain aspects of the existing social
democratic politics
over issues of state-influenced and state intervening
economic policy. Polls
taken in Britain prior to the 1979 election likewise
showed "a massive 75% of
respondents in favour of a reduction in state
spending." Similarly, "the fall
of the West German Social Democratic
Party (SPD) in the 1982 coincided
with a dramatic collapse of public confidence
in the Schmidt administration's
handling of the economy. Only 17% of voters
considered the SPD the party that
guaranteed job security." The lack of
faith in government to solve such
economic crises reflected a more general loss
of faith in the political
system. This lack of faith was also evident through
the widespread decline in
support for the major parties in Germany and Britain.
Further, a deep
skepticism was expressed over the capacity of government to
handle economic
depression or mitigate its effects. This was most clearly
evident in
attitudes to mass unemployment. Surveys conducted in "Britain in
1984
found that 55% of respondents accepted that high unemployment was
something'we'll just have to live with'. In West Germany as well as Britain,
majorities
were all recorded in 1984 who believed economic conditions would
deteriorate
rather than improve in 1985." This continued to deter the
credibility of
the social democrats and other major parties in the views of
their constituents.
Between 1980 and 1987 "the SPD were seen as less
competent than the
Christian Democratic Union (CDU) on every question
relating to the economy:
unemployment, inflation, economic growth and even
social security." In
assessing the appeal of the Neo-conservatism one of the
first indications would
be the broad shift in social attitudes. An essential
part of the strategy of
politicians like Margaret Thatcher in Britain was "to
adapt their party's
ideological appeal to perceived social changes in outlook
and behaviour while
simultaneously seeking to direct or shape those changes
in order to create a
permanent majority for their brand of politics."
Thatcher had made serious
inroads into the post-war political culture in
Britain, which were based on full
employment, state intervention, and the
welfare state. Both Britain and West
Germany had noted severe changes in
political behaviour in the 1980s. This
suggested a growing fragmentation of
the party system and the diminishing
credibility of the political process as
a whole in the eyes of the voters. Along
with economic issues, there were
other public concerns such as law and order,
the threat of war and racial
issues. In Britain "prior to the election of
conservative governments, law
and order came second only to unemployment in
polls of the most pressing
political issues among the voting public." This
was further supported by a
poll taken in "January 1978, which found that
61% of respondents agreed
with Thatcher's televised pronouncement that Britain
was 'in danger of being
swamped by people of different cultures'. Her personal
popularity also leaped
11% in the immediate aftermath of the interview."
This behaviour of the
general public indicates that the rise to power of
Neo-conservative
governments was preceded and accompanied by strong anti-liberal
sentiments
anong the general voting public. At this time there was also a deep
crisis of
belief in the corporate model of economic management, which was
also
expressed as "marked skepticism over continued state intervention in
the
economy." Initially, the Conservatives in Britain were committed
to
experiment with mixes of private and public sector provision in such areas
as
the National Health Service (NHS). The Conservatives sought to make
changes to
the NHS so as to allow more private intervention, but the Labor
Party saw it as
a threat to the NHS. However, a combination of factors pushed
the privatization
programme along further and faster than could have been
predicted in 1979. The
first term of the Thatcher administration underlined
the difficulty of devising
consistent policies within the public sector for
enterprises. Privatization
brought together a number of features of the new
blend of Conservatism fashioned
under Thatcher's leadership: "First it
reduced the size of the public
sector. Secondly it generated additional
income for the government, which it
could use to finance tax cut or a mix of
tax cuts and additional public
expenditures. Thirdly, it introduced the
market into areas where it had hitherto
not played a conspicuous part in the
belief that this would generate greater
economic efficiency and better value
for money both for the citizen as taxpayer
and the taxpayer as consumer. Thus
there was a mix of pragmatic and ideological
motives involved in the
privatization process and it gathered a momentum of its
own over the period
1979-1987." In seeking to curb public expenditure the
Neo-conservatives
believed initially that it should be possible to concentrate
services where
they were most needed and to encourage a switch from public to
private
provision and many thought the tax system could have been used to
encourage
greater freedom of choices between the private and public sectors.
Social
security is a case in point. This area of spending was anticipated to
attract
government concern for the fact that "social security accounts for
nearly 30%
of public expenditures." This meant that 'any government
desirous of
curtailing the latter must devote considerable attention to the
former'.
Germany is an organized-capitalist country that has relied on a network
of
small and large businesses working together. Rather than having
a
relationship of state versus market, the public and the private sector
have
interpenetrated. This relationship is neither free-market nor state
dominant.
However, it is referred to as the Social Market Economy. This
concept refers to
"a system of capitalism in which fundamental social
benefits arte essential
to the workings of the market." Market system is the
major principle behind
the social market economy. The reason why
group-oriented outcomes were
beneficial for the major social forces in the
FGR was due to high wages, high
social spending, and the necessity to keep
German goods competitive on the world
markets. Due to such methods, Germany
has been able to avoid instability, unlike
what was caused between the
laissez-faire and the state led economic policy that
have characterized
Britain. The crisis of economic growth from 1974-75 boosted
the 'new'
Conservatism in Germany led by CDU against the SPD. Neo-conservatism
offered
new solutions to both the economic and the cultural crisis of
capitalist
democracies. In economic policy, "it promoted a
free-market-led
acceleration of industrial capitalist growth towards [a] new
utopia."
German conservatism underwent a remarkable change of thinking
with respect to
its ideological traditions. The Neo-conservative concept
required a strong state
not only to maintain the economic and social order,
but also to dismantle the
social democratic welfare state. They wanted to
promote "the coming boom by
drastic cuts in business taxation, welfare
expenditure, and by the removal of
regulations restraining employment. This
[implied] a substantial change of the
relationship between the state and the
economy...in post-war West Germany."
The success of economic
modernization also depended on simultaneous social
reforms. The family
functions operated as the heart of a Neo-conservative
modernization of
society: "The fate of the family is decisive for the
future of our society."
This type of modernization recognized that
"under changing
economic-technological and sociocultural conditions the
family could only
perform its old functions in new forms." More than that,
"this
Neo-conservative willingness to reform might be of economic use,
because the
challenges confronting a modern and human industrial nation can
hardly be
mastered without the expertise and the creativity of women."
Under the
given premise, not only the distribution of roles within the family
will have
to change, but also its social context within which it operates.
Those
functions formerly: "provided by relatives should now be executed
within
neighborhoods, by free associations, private initiatives, and
self-help groups.
They should replace the bureaucratic welfare state
thereby relieving the public
budgets: They help to cure the structural causes
of the welfare state's fiscal
crisis'." In sum, the modernization of the
economy and society were some of
the keystones of Neo-conservative ideologies
in West Germany in the 1980s. The
goal of the Neo-conservatives was to build
something new. In general, state
intervention into the economy had to be
reduced and the Free Market Economy had
to be strengthened. The
"Conservative-liberal coalition had planned to
strengthen business profits;
the consolidation of public budgets; the
reorganization of the welfare state
by concentrating public social expenditure
on 'the truly needy'; and the
removal of 'excessive regulation' to increase the
dynamics and flexibility of
the capitalist market economy." With this
programme, German Neo-conservatism
seemed to have gained importance, not only
ideologically but also politically
for the first time since World- War II.
Neo-Conservatism has concentrated
on price stability and growth, even when the
cost is a high level of
unemployment. In general, the trade-off has proved
acceptable to a majority
of the electorate in Britain. The period of Thatcher's
leadership of the
British Conservative party had seen a number of important
changes both in the
general character of party politics and in their
policymaking. "The political
influence of the Neo-conservative project has
been restricted not only by the
political weakness of West German
neo-conservatism but also by various
institutional restrictions in the party
system and state structure."
Germany's political economy and development
has shown that a greater degree
of institutional stability has existed since
World War II. Part of the
reason for this stability has been the ability to
dominate economic and
political leaders to retain a balance between the private
and public sectors.
Britain has had a tighter control over its economy than
Germany. However,
presently it is in a better position that it was under
the
Neo-conservative ideologies. I don't feel Germany has been affected
much by
Neo-conservatism. It has always put the people as well as the
social programs
first, which has seemed to operate in an orderly manner
without causing any
major discrepancies in its economy. It has also managed
to keep its economy
stable and keep its goods competitive in the world
markets. The German model of
economic growth has proved remarkably durable
through almost all of the postwar
period and it continues to so
presently.
Bibliography
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Gavin. (1985) Contemporary
Conservatism. USA. S&P Publications Gunther, S.
(1990) The Right. London.
Saturn Press Stevens, M. (1993). The New Right. NY.
Western
Publications