Cameron's Government

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200696031 PIED3170 The End of British Politics David Cameron’s Conservatives have pursued an approach to reforming the state, which clearly differs from that of previous governments’. Discuss and include reference to the notion of the ‘Big Society’ in your answer Word count: 3152 Stuart McAnulla This discussion will compromise of three separate sections. Firstly, this essay will put forward a possible argument against the statement in hand, suggesting that Cameron’s Conservatives constructed a triangulated narrative similar to that of Blair’s Third Way. In making this argument, this section will firstly define the Third Way as outlined by Giddens (1999, 2003) and then give a description of how it’s ideas were …show more content…

The focus of this argument will be on the period after the 2007 recession, examining how Cameron’s cutting agenda highlighted strands of continuity with the Thatcher Government (Smith, 2010). It will further argue that the depth, speed and anti-statist nature of these cuts highlight the Thatcherite agenda that David Cameron has. Similarly, it will contend that the Big Society is an extension of this agenda as it allows Cameron to portray harsh Thatcherite rollbacks as centrist policies (Mabbett, 2013). In order to answer this question, I will firstly define Thatcher’s approach to reforming the state (Kavanagh, 1992). This will allow me to assess whether continuity can be identified. Whilst there are many arguments that suggest Cameron has always displayed Thatcherite tendencies, this section will focus on Cameron’s policy after the financial crash. The last section of the essay will put forward the argument that Cameron’s approach to reforming the state clearly differs to that of previous Governments (Alderwick, 2012). This argument will focus on how Cameron’s reforming agenda draws upon anti-statist ideas that conflict significantly with those of …show more content…

To do this would be to ignore the ways in which Cameron has rejected and revised much of Thatcherism (Kerr, Byrne and Foster, 2011). As outlined in the first section, Cameron has embraced some elements of the public services (McAnulla, 2010). Despite this stance softening due to the financial crisis, Cameron has maintained a broad commitment to the public services through the ideas contained within the Big Society (Smith, 2010). Specifically, Cameron has argued in favour of allowing charities, social enterprises and companies to provide public services. In this sense the Big Society arguably provides an alternative vision, reconciling the tension of reducing state spending whilst maintaining Labour’s welfare commitments. This formulation of policy represents a step change from the Governments of Thatcher who chose to abandon many of the state commitments to providing public services entirely (Kavanagh,

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