Neo-Conservatism

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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 econom...

The complete article is about 1840 words and 7.36 pages long.

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