Political ideology in Britain

268 Pages·2002·0.833 MB·English

by  Leach, Robert

Political Ideology in
Britain
Robert Leach
Political Ideology in Britain
Contemporary Political Studies Series
Series Editor: John Benyon, University of Leicester
Published
DAVID BROUGHTON
Public Opinion and Political Polling in Britain
MICHAEL CONNOLLY
Politics and Policy Making in Northern Ireland
DAVID DENVER
Elections and Voting Behaviour in Britain; 2nd edn
JUSTIN FISHER
British Political Parties
ROBERT GARNER
Environmental Politics: Britain, Europe and the Global Environment; 2nd edn
WYN GRANT
Economic Policy in Britain
WYN GRANT
Pressure Groups and British Politics
DEREK HEATER and GEOFFREY BERRIDGE
Introduction to International Politics
DILYS M. HILL
Urban Policy and Politics in Britain
ROBERT LEACH
Political Ideology in Britain
ROBERT LEACH and JANIE PERCY-SMITH
Local Governance in Britain
PETER MADGWICK
British Government: The Central Executive Territory
PHILIP NORTON
Does Parliament Matter?
MALCOLM PUNNETT
Selecting the Party Leader
ROBERT PYPER
The British Civil Service
Forthcoming
ANDREW GEDDES
The European Union and British Politics
IAN HOLLIDAY
The NHS and British Health Policy
RAYMOND KUHN
Politics and the Media in Britain
ROBERT PYPER and PETER FALCONER
The New Public Management in Britain
Political Ideology in
Britain
Robert Leach
© Robert Leach 2002
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Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published 2002 by
PALGRAVE
Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N. Y. 10010
Companies and representatives throughout the world
PALGRAVE is the new global academic imprint of
St. Martin’s Press LLC Scholarly and Reference Division and
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ISBN 0-333-96350-4 hardback
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This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and
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A catalogue record for this book is available
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Leach, Robert, 1941–
Political ideology in Britain/Robert Leach.
p. cm. — (Contemporary political studies)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0–333–96350–4
1. Political science — Great Britain. 2. Ideology — Great Britain.
3. Right and left (Political science) I. Title. II. Contemporary political
studies (Palgrave (Firm))
JA84.G7 L395 2002
320.5’0941–dc21 2001059839
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02
Printed in Hong Kong
Contents
List of Figures and Tables x
Preface xi
1 Introduction: Ideology in British Politics 1
Political ideas and ideologies 1
Ideas, power and interests 2
Ideology as dogmatism – the ‘end of ideology’ 5
Contemporary approaches to the study of ideology 6
Studying ideologies – the issue of bias 7
Elements of ideologies 8
Classifying ideologies – left and right 11
Levels of ideology 14
Power, influence and indoctrination 15
Ideology and pragmatism in British politics 17
Moderation and consensus in British politics 19
The British political tradition 20
Further reading 22
2 Liberalism 23
Introduction 23
Liberalism: underlying assumptions and values 25
The Whig tradition 28
Radicals 30
Classical economics and utilitarianism 32
Victorian liberalism 34
Liberalism, capitalism and democracy 37
The New Liberalism 39
The decline of the Liberal Party – and the triumph
of liberalism? 42
The ideas of modern Liberals and Liberal Democrats 43
Further reading 45
v
vi Contents
3 Conservatism 47
Introduction: traditional and contemporary
Conservatism 47
The Tory tradition 48
Conservatism: reaction and gradualism 49
Reason and tradition 53
Human imperfection 54
Authority, leadership and Tory democracy 56
The defence of property 58
Paternalism and social reform 60
Protection and Tory collectivism 62
Patriotism and imperialism 65
Further reading 66
4 Socialism and Labourism 68
Introduction 68
Socialist values 69
Evolutionary and revolutionary socialism 70
Working-class politics in nineteenth-century Britain 73
Marxism and the British labour movement 75
Trade unionism and labourism 77
Ethical socialism 80
Fabian socialism 81
State socialism and alternatives to state socialism 83
Labour in power? MacDonaldism 86
Labour in power – the Attlee government 87
Revisionism, fundamentalism and pragmatism 89
Socialism inside and outside the Labour Party 92
Further reading 93
5 Nationalism 95
Introduction 95
What is nationalism 96
When and why nationalism developed 97
Varieties of nationalism 98
Nations and states in Britain 103
Nationalism in nineteenth-century Britain 107
Scottish and Welsh nationalism 108
Nationalism and devolution 110
Europe, regionalism and nationalism 113
Contents vii
Globalization, decentralization and the
future of nationalism 115
Further reading 117
6 Fascism, Racism and Multiculturalism 119
Introduction: racism and fascism 119
Racist ideology: critical issues 120
The origins and development of racism 121
‘Scientific’ racism 124
Fascism and Nazism 125
British fascism 127
Immigration and race in modern
Britain – a new racism? 129
Racism, class and religion 131
Institutional racism 133
Anti-racism 134
Ethnic-minority community mobilization 136
Multiculturalism 138
Further reading 141
7 Feminism 143
Introduction 143
The origins and development of feminist
thought – liberal feminism 144
Modern feminist criticism of liberal feminism 146
Socialist and Marxist feminism 148
Criticism of socialist and Marxist feminism 150
Radical feminism 151
Criticism of radical feminism 155
Eco-feminism 156
The impact of the New Right – Conservative
feminism? 158
Feminism and post-modernism 160
Post-feminism or new feminism? 162
Further reading 166
8 Green Ideology 168
Introduction 168
Green and other ideologies 169
Greens and the Right 170
viii Contents
Greens and the Left 171
Key elements of Green thinking 173
Limits to growth – sustainability 174
Ecocentrism 175
The holistic approach 178
Small is beautiful? 179
Green strategy 181
Further reading 189
9 The New Right, Thatcherism and
Contemporary Conservatism 190
1975: a change in direction 190
Classical liberalism, neo-liberalism and
the free market 191
Neo-conservatism 195
Tensions within Thatcherism 197
Ideology and pragmatism 198
The legacy of Thatcherism 201
From Thatcher to Major 202
Conservatism for the twenty-first
century – Hague and after 204
Further reading 209
10 From Old to New Labour 210
A new party with a new ideology? 210
Old Labour, democratic socialism and social
democracy 211
New Labour? 213
The international context 215
The end or redefinition of socialism 216
A third way? 219
New Labour in government 221
New Labour in the new millennium 223
Further reading 224
11 Conclusion: The Future of British Politics 226
British politics and the wider world 226
More of the same? The continuation of
two-party duopoly 227
Party and ideological realignment? 228
The end of British politics as we know it? 230
Contents ix
Radical alternatives? 231
The growth of alienation and apathy? 232
Bibliography 235
Index 249