FREE ESSAY ON NEO-CONSERVATISM

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 economic conditions would deteriorate rather than
improve in 1985. 
This continued to deter the credibility of the social democrats and other major parties
in the views of their constituents. Between 1980 and 1987 the SPD were seen as less
competent than the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) on every question relating to the
economy: unemployment, inflation, economic growth and even social security. 
In assessing the appeal of the Neo-conservatism one of the first indications would be the
broad shift in social attitudes. An essential part of the strategy of politicians like
Margaret Thatcher in Britain was to adapt their party's ideological appeal to perceived
social changes in outlook and behaviour while simultaneously seeking to direct or shape
those changes in order to create a permanent majority for their brand of politics.
Thatcher had made serious inroads into the post-war political culture in Britain, which
were based on full employment, state intervention, and the welfare state. Both Britain
and West Germany had noted severe changes in political behaviour in the 1980s. This
suggested a growing fragmentation of the party system and the diminishing credibility of
the political process as a whole in the eyes of the voters. Along with economic issues,
there were other public concerns such as law and order, the threat of war and racial
issues. In Britain prior to the election of conservative governments, law and order came
second only to unemployment in polls of the most pressing political issues among the
voting public. This was further supported by a poll taken in January 1978, which found
that 61% of respondents agreed with Thatcher's televised pronouncement that Britain was
'in danger of being swamped by people of different cultures'. Her personal popularity
also leaped 11% in the immediate aftermath of the interview. This behaviour of the
general public indicates that the rise to power of Neo-conservative governments was
preceded and accompanied by strong anti-liberal sentiments anong the general voting
public. 
At this time there was also a deep crisis of belief in the corporate model of economic
management, which was also expressed as marked skepticism over continued state
intervention in the economy. Initially, the Conservatives in Britain were committed to
experiment with mixes of private and public sector provision in such areas as the
National Health Service (NHS). The Conservatives sought to make changes to the NHS so as
to allow more private intervention, but the Labor Party saw it as a threat to the NHS.
However, a combination of factors pushed the privatization programme along further and
faster than could have been predicted in 1979. The first term of the Thatcher
administration underlined the difficulty of devising consistent policies within the
public sector for enterprises. Privatization brought together a number of features of the
new 
blend of Conservatism fashioned under Thatcher's leadership: 
First it reduced the size of the public sector. Secondly it generated additional income
for the government, which it could use to finance tax cut or a mix of tax cuts and
additional public expenditures. Thirdly, it introduced the market into areas where it had
hitherto not played a conspicuous part in the belief that this would generate greater
economic efficiency and better value for money both for the citizen as taxpayer and the
taxpayer as consumer. Thus there was a mix of pragmatic and ideological motives involved
in the privatization process and it gathered a momentum of its own over the period
1979-1987. 
In seeking to curb public expenditure the Neo-conservatives believed initially that it
should be possible to concentrate services where they were most needed and to encourage a
switch from public to private provision and many thought the tax system could have been
used to encourage greater freedom of choices between the private and public sectors.
Social security is a case in point. This area of spending was anticipated to attract
government concern for the fact that social security accounts for nearly 30% of public
expenditures. This meant that 'any government desirous of curtailing the latter must
devote considerable attention to the former'. 
Germany is an organized-capitalist country that has relied on a network of small and
large businesses working together. Rather than having a relationship of state versus
market, the public and the private sector have interpenetrated. This relationship is
neither free-market nor state dominant. However, it is referred to as the Social Market
Economy. This concept refers to a system of capitalism in which fundamental social
benefits arte essential to the workings of the market. Market system is the major
principle behind the social market economy. The reason why group-oriented outcomes were
beneficial for the major social forces in the FGR was due to high wages, high social
spending, and the necessity to keep German goods competitive on the world markets. Due to
such methods, Germany has been able to avoid instability, unlike what was caused between
the laissez-faire and the state led economic policy that have characterized Britain. 
The crisis of economic growth from 1974-75 boosted the 'new' Conservatism in Germany led
by CDU against the SPD. Neo-conservatism offered new solutions to both the economic and
the cultural crisis of capitalist democracies. In economic policy, it promoted a
free-market-led acceleration of industrial capitalist growth towards [a] new utopia.
German conservatism underwent a remarkable change of thinking with respect to its
ideological traditions. The Neo-conservative concept required a strong state not only to
maintain the economic and social order, but also to dismantle the social democratic
welfare state. They wanted to promote the coming boom by drastic cuts in business
taxation, welfare expenditure, and by the removal of regulations restraining employment.
This [implied] a substantial change of the relationship between the state and the
economy...in post-war West Germany. 
The success of economic modernization also depended on simultaneous social reforms. The
family functions operated as the heart of a Neo-conservative modernization of society:
The fate of the family is decisive for the future of our society. This type of
modernization recognized that under changing economic-technological and sociocultural
conditions the family could only perform its old functions in new forms. More than that,
this Neo-conservative willingness to reform might be of economic use, because the
challenges confronting a modern and human industrial nation can hardly be mastered
without the expertise and the creativity of women. Under the given premise, not only the
distribution of roles within the family will have to change, but also its social context
within which it operates. Those functions formerly:
provided by relatives should now be executed within neighborhoods, by free associations,
private initiatives, and self-help groups. They should replace the bureaucratic welfare
state thereby relieving the public budgets: They help to cure the structural causes of
the welfare state's fiscal crisis'. 
In sum, the modernization of the economy and society were some of the keystones of
Neo-conservative ideologies in West Germany in the 1980s. 
The goal of the Neo-conservatives was to build something new. In general, state
intervention into the economy had to be reduced and the Free Market Economy had to be
strengthened. The 
Conservative-liberal coalition had planned to strengthen business profits; the
consolidation of public budgets; the reorganization of the welfare state by concentrating
public social expenditure on 'the truly needy'; and the removal of 'excessive regulation'
to increase the dynamics and flexibility of the capitalist market economy. 
With this programme, German Neo-conservatism seemed to have gained importance, not only
ideologically but also politically for the first time since World- War II. 
Neo-Conservatism has concentrated on price stability and growth, even when the cost is a
high level of unemployment. In general, the trade-off has proved acceptable to a majority
of the electorate in Britain. The period of Thatcher's leadership of the British
Conservative party had seen a number of important changes both in the general character
of party politics and in their policymaking. The political influence of the
Neo-conservative project has been restricted not only by the political weakness of West
German neo-conservatism but also by various institutional restrictions in the party
system and state structure. Germany's political economy and development has shown that a
greater degree of institutional stability has existed since World War II. Part of the
reason for this stability has been the ability to dominate economic and political leaders
to retain 
a balance between the private and public sectors. Britain has had a tighter control over
its economy than Germany. However, presently it is in a better position that it was under
the Neo-conservative ideologies. I don't feel Germany has been affected much by
Neo-conservatism. It has always put the people as well as the social programs first,
which has seemed to operate in an orderly manner without causing any major discrepancies
in its economy. It has also managed to keep its economy stable and keep its goods
competitive in the world markets. The German model of economic growth has proved
remarkably durable through almost all of the postwar period and it continues to so
presently. 
Bibliography
REFERENCES
Smith, Allen (1995). Politics in Transition. New York. Swanson Press 
Roth, Gavin. (1985) Contemporary Conservatism. USA. S&P Publications
Gunther, S. (1990) The Right. London. Saturn Press
Stevens, M. (1993). The New Right. NY. Western Publications