Civil Service Reform and the Legacy of Thatcherism
Margaret Thatcher brought about sweeping changes to the civil service in the 1980s. The traditional concept of public, defined by Samuelson as “non-rivalrous” and “non-excludable”, was called into question by Thatcherism. Indeed, Thatcher’s doctrine, in line with neo-liberalism, was centred on compe...
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| Wydane w: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/osb, |
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| 1. autor: | |
| Format: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Język: | Anglais |
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Observatoire de la société britannique
2016
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| Hasła przedmiotowe: | |
| Dostęp online: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
| Streszczenie: | Margaret Thatcher brought about sweeping changes to the civil service in the 1980s. The traditional concept of public, defined by Samuelson as “non-rivalrous” and “non-excludable”, was called into question by Thatcherism. Indeed, Thatcher’s doctrine, in line with neo-liberalism, was centred on competition. In order to achieve an efficient allocation of resources and to get the economy on track again, it was necessary to reduce the intervention of the state and endorse markets. Thatcher’s belief that the private sector was more capable of promoting competition and achieving efficiency gains led to the implementation of a vast programme of privatisations, including the privatisation of utilities, transport and telecommunications. Even in central public institutions where privatization was ruled out, the drive towards greater efficiency through the introduction of competition led to the marketisation of remaining public services and a blurring of the public and private spheres. The civil service has thus been reduced in size and scope. Some of the government’s central functions such as Recruitment and Assessment Services and HMSO have been sold to the private sector too. Rather than calling into question the privatisation and marketisation of the public sector, New Labour embraced Thatcherite free market reforms. Further measures to privatise government-owned entities have been initiated by the current coalition government and the marketisation of government services has been taken to another level. However, to say that the continuity in the civil service since the 1980s is a direct result of Thatcherism would be excluding a whole number of other influences that have brought about change to the civil service. Nevertheless, Thatcher certainly provided the impetus to bring about civil service reform and this, on the whole, was not called into question by her successors. |
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