Title:
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Offensive completed : a neo-Poulantzasian analysis of the Thatcherite era, 1977-1999
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I use a neo-Poulantzasian conceptual framework and argue that Thatcherite politics were
specific in terms of how they addressed class relations. The Thatcherites marginalised
working class militants and implemented a repressive form of trade union law by exploiting
divisions in the trade union movement and the Labour Party. In addition, their privatisation of
council houses and liberalisation of the mortgage and consumer credit markets tended to
cover up inter-class divides and deepen intra-class divides. Accordingly, I see Thatcherism as
a class political regime, that is, a relatively coherent ensemble of policies aimed at
reproducing capitalist class domination. I contend that this was flanked by the emergence of
an authoritarian neo-Ricardian regime in the areas of economic and state policy. The
Thatcherites were committed to >free competition<, whilst also extending the state's repressive
capacities. On the whole, they facilitated both an offensive of the power bloc and a neoliberal
regime shift. As a result, class relations of forces shifted from an impasse to the dominance of
capital. Thanks to the Thatcherites defeating their adversaries in the trade union movement,
this shift became entrenched and their offensive became stabilised - something
unprecedented in the post-war era. At the point of victory, however, divisions over strategy
emerged among leading circles in the Conservative party. Consequently, they failed to
respond to the transition from an offensive to a consolidating step of the power bloc.
Thatcherism eroded and was eventually replaced by Blairism as the next class political
regime, whilst authoritarian neo-Ricardianism remained.
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