Conflict Or Consensus Essay, Research Paper
In order to have a stable government it is important to
have consensus.? Consensus is a general
understanding and agreement on fundamental principles.? In politics there are three main types of
consensus, Societal Consensus, Political Consensus and consensus in policy
making.Societal
consensus is overall public opinion, the political beliefs of the public.? Normally most people?s political opinions
are not too diverse, the majority falling somewhere around the centre
ground.? The area of the political
spectrum where the bulk of the public?s opinion lies is called the
consensus.? To get elected, a political
party must also fall in this area, in order to appeal to the public.Therefore
the main political parties all have policies that are similar, as they all want
to appeal to the public.? This is
Political Consensus.? The parties may
still disagree over certain policies or issues, but on key issues their
policies are very similar.? If a party
was to introduce policies that were outside the consensus, they would lose
popularity and would not be elected.?
This means that governments often continue the policies of their
predecessor.Consensus
in policy making is the practice of involving other groups in determining
policies, in addition to the cabinet.?
This may be Trade Unions, pressure groups or other appropriate group.Historically
Britain has enjoyed consensus politics.?
Following the Second World War a consensus between the main political parties
developed.? There was a climate of
co-operation between Labour and Conservatives following their coalition
government during the war and the parties agreed in certain key areas.? Both parties accepted Keynesianism, an
economics system that bridged Capitalism and socialism, arguing for full
employment brought about by government intervention in the economy.? There was cross-party support for the report
by William Beveridge calling for a ?Welfare State?The
Labour government of 1945, led by Clement Atlee introduced policies in six key
areas, which became the foundation for the post-war consensus.? These were – the commitment to full
employment, using Keynesian economic ideas to achieve it.? To have a mixed economy, including both
publicly and privately owned industries.?
The introduction of a ?Welfare State?, with the establishment of the NHS
and benefits for those in need.? The
formalisation of links with Trade Unions, involving them in policy making.? The commitment to reducing the gap between
the rich and poor and to help regions with economic problems.? The commitment to NATO and to make Britain a
nuclear power, maintaining close ties to America.In
1951 the Conservative Party was elected and although there were some minor
changes, they continued the policies of the previous Labour Government.? They only had a very small majority and so
had to rule out any unpopular policies.?
This meant keeping most of Labours policies.? The Conservative Party leadership was moderate and the more
right-wing MPs were marginalised.? The
Tories therefore had no choice or indeed no desire to change the policies
started by Labour.The
Conservative economic policy was so similar to Labour?s previous one that the
phrase ?Butskellism? was coined after R.A. Butler the Tory chancellor and Hugh
Gateskell the chancellor under Labour.? Moderates
succeeded Churchill as Prime Minister and so these consensus policies were
continued.? They remained unchanged when
Labour came to power in 1964.The
consensus policies had remained unchallenged until the 1970?s when they began
to be put under pressure.? When Edward
Heath came to power in 1970, he did so with a commitment to more right-wing
policies, such as curtailing the power of the Unions, reducing state control of
industry and promoting the free market.?
However in 1972 as unemployment rose to over one million and his
policies became less popular he did a ?U-turn?.? He abandoned his right-wing policies and adopted more consensus
policies; he even adopted some left-wing policies such as nationalisation.? However despite continued consultation and
involvement of the Unions, it was the Unions who brought down his government in
1974 with the miner strike.This
followed by a labour government, but they only had a tiny majority of 3 seats.? This meant that the Labour government had to
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policies.? It had to give up on
Keynesian economics because of economic problems, causing disputes with
Unions.? This led to the ?Winter of
Discontent?.? This was when public
sector workers brought the country to a stand still by widespread strikes.? They were very unpopular and the public
called for Union power to be curbed.This
spelled the end for the post-war consensus as on the back of this public
dissatisfaction Margaret Thatcher came to power with radical right-wing
policies.? She abandoned Keynesianism in
favour of Monetarism and the free market.?
She severed links with the unions and took away much of their
power.? She did not pursue full
employment, and did not see it as the government?s responsibility to lessen
inequality, instead seeing it as an incentive to work harder.? She was however unable to drastically reform
the welfare state as it had wide spread public support.? Foreign and defence policy was continued
with support for NATO and the nuclear deterrent.? During this time Labour moved further left outside of the
societal consensus, making itself unelectable.?
Mrs Thatcher?s years in government saw much conflict, with social unrest
and inner-city riots in 1981 and 1985 and the Poll-Tax demonstrations in 1989.With
the election of John Major more moderate policies were followed and today a new
consensus has emerged to the right of the previous one, with Tony Blair and his
so called ?Third Way? continuing many policies that would not have seemed out
of place in Thatcher?s or Major?s governments.?
His belief in ?inclusive? politics has seen him abandon many traditional
socialist Labour ideas and adopt traditional Tory ones.? The new consensus could be described as not
an ideological consensus but as a pragmatic consensus, based around individual
issues as they arise rather than deep-seated political beliefs.New
Labours policies of privatising air-traffic control and its commitment to
cutting tax are in line with Tory beliefs, but there are still many points on
which New Labour and the Conservative don?t agree.? The EU and the Euro is a major source of disagreement in British
politics with the Conservatives staunchly Euro-sceptic and against the single
currency with New Labour in favour.?
However even this divisive issue has brought about a consensus, one
between New Labour, the Lib Dems and dissident Tories, in the Britain in Europe
group.There
are however many conflicts today in Britain, the obvious one being in Northern
Ireland, with the troubles starting in 1969 and having been a source of serious
conflict ever since.? The violence
between Loyalists and Republicans within Northern Ireland and the IRA terror
campaign on the mainland have been the main threat to Britain?s internal
security for many years.? There are also
many other sources of conflict in Britain today, including the Anti-Hunt lobby
and the Countryside alliance and the Anti-capitalist riot in London in the summer.? There are many organisations that may pose a
threat in the future such as the ALF, Reclaim the Streets and Earth First.? A potential source of future conflict could
be Scottish and Welsh devolution.? This
may in fact weaken the union not strengthen it as English resentment at not
having an English parliament grows and as Scottish and to a lesser extent Welsh
nationalism grows in popularity.Despite
these sources of conflict, British politics tends mostly towards consensus,
since there is an agreement amongst both the public and the major political
parties on the key issues, such as the belief in the existence of a National
Health Service and benefits.? Britain
has a stable government with no risk of being overthrown.? This is because the public recognises the
government?s right to govern even if they don?t agree with what the government
is doing.? The public accepts the
democratic principle and therefore the government has legitimacy.? There is no party that wishes to drastically
change the political system, although New Labour has introduced the reform of
the House of Lords and limited electoral reform, but this is not too
drastic.? This is helped by Britain?s
mainly two party system as this keeps extreme parties out of parliament.? The new consensus does not appear to have
any major opponents and so it is likely to continue well in to the next
century.