The Thatcherite Offensive

A Neo-Poulantzasian Analysis
Erscheinungsjahr 2015
ISBN: 978-90-04-23161-0
Verlag: Brill

Buch, Englisch, Band 107, 318 Seiten, Format (B × H): 164 mm x 244 mm, Gewicht: 645 g

Reihe: Historical Materialism Book Series

In The Thatcherite Offensive, Alexander Gallas provides a class-centred political analysis of Thatcherism. Drawing upon Greek state theorist Nicos Poulantzas, he challenges both mainstream and critical accounts of British politics in the 1980s and 90s. He shows that Thatcherism’s sucess and novelty, indeed its unity as a political project, lay in the fact that the Thatcher governments profoundly shifted class relations in Britain in favour of capital and restructured the institutions underpinning class domination. According to Gallas, it was an integral part of the Thatcherite project to directly intervene in labour relations, to deprive workers of their ability to forge coalitions, and to smash militant trade unionism.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Gallas, Alexander

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Ideologien Liberalismus, Libertarismus
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politikwissenschaft Allgemein Politische Theorie, Politische Philosophie
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Ideologien Konservativismus
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politikwissenschaft Allgemein Politische Geschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Europäische Länder

Inhaltsverzeichnis

List of Acronyms and Abbreviations
List of Tables
Preface and Acknowledgements
Introduction

PART I: THATCHERISM AND THE NEO-POULANTZASIAN APPROACH

1. The Hall-Jessop Debate
2. Neo-Poulantzasian Political Analysis

PART II: CLASS AND POLITICS IN BRITAIN, 1977–99

3. Method of Presentation
4. Pre-history: Britain in Crisis (–1977)
5. Emergence: A New Agenda for the Conservative Party (1977–9)
Case Study: Preparing for Government – Conservative Policy Papers from 1977
6. Material Gains: Conducting Class Politics by Stealth (1979–84)
7. Instability and Confrontation (1984–8)
Case Study: Attacking the Union Movement – The Miners’ Strike
Case Study: Dividing the Nation – The ‘Big Bang’ and the Liberalisation of Financial Markets
8. Stabilisation: Entrenching the Advance (1988–92)
9. Erosion: Losing Control (1992–9)

PART III: THE AFTERMATH

10. The Consequences of Thatcherism
11. New Labour and the Thatcherite Legacy

Conclusion
References
Index

Über Autor(innen)

Alexander Gallas, PhD (2010), Lancaster University, is Assistant Professor of Politics at the University of Kassel. He is editor of the Global Labour Journal and regularly writes on topics such as the state, class, labour relations and British Politics. His publications include Reading Poulantzas (Merlin, 2011).