The Legacy of Thatcherism - Public Sector Reform
In this paper our focus is on the reform of Britain’s public services since the 1980s, particularly education and health (the National Health Service - NHS), and the manner in which the reforms initiated by the 1979-90 Thatcher Governments have been maintained, consolidated and extended by subsequen...
Enregistré dans:
| Dans: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/osb, |
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| Auteur principal: | |
| Format: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Langue: | Anglais |
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Observatoire de la société britannique
2016
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| Accès en ligne: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
| Résumé: | In this paper our focus is on the reform of Britain’s public services since the 1980s, particularly education and health (the National Health Service - NHS), and the manner in which the reforms initiated by the 1979-90 Thatcher Governments have been maintained, consolidated and extended by subsequent governments, not least by New Labour. That post-1990 governments enacted similar reforms of the public sector/services ensured that the legacy of Thatcherism in this major sphere of public policy has endured, and continues today.Rather than adopt a chronological approach identifying each reform as it was enacted in sequence, this paper will offer a more thematic account of public sector/service reform since the 1980s. In so doing, we will highlight five specific aspects, these being: a) the Thatcherite critique of the public sector, and why this was viewed as inherently inefficient; b) the process of ’marketisation’; c) the parallel imposition of a ’managerialist’ regime in Britain’s public services; d) the increased role of audits, inspections and other monitoring exercises to measure the performance of public services and their staff; e) the ’discourse’ which has accompanied public sector reform, in order to legitimise it, and reinforce the principles of ’marketisation’ and ’managerialism’. |
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