| dc.description.abstract | Abstract
Margaret Thatcher was Britain's premier for an impressive period of 11 years and is probably the best known British premier since Winston Churchill. Her reputation as "the Iron Lady" originated in the USSR, and although this soubriquet probably was not intended as flattery, Thatcher used it as her trademark. Given her status as former world leader and her personality, it was to be expected that she wanted to continue to influence politics, even without the formal role as prime minister. After 15 years as leader of the Conservative Party and 11 years as prime minister, she enjoyed an extensive network of politicians, former and present state leaders, prominent leaders in various political organizations in addition to right-wing journalists and newspaper proprietors. These people shared the same political views and associated with each other, at least to a certain degree. There is a multitude of books written about Margaret Thatcher and her years in government, as well as about Thatcherism and the Thatcher legacy. Apparently few political scientists have attempted to study the broad range of Thatcher’s political influence since 1990. The broad spectrum of political activities that Thatcher undertook since 1990 has been studied to some extent in this dissertation. The research question which has been analyzed is: To what extent - and through what channels - did Margaret Thatcher influence the course of British politics in the twelve years following her resignation as prime minister in 1990?
The research question has led to the establishment of three different hypotheses which provide a backdrop for the empirical analysis. Hypothesis number one is: Margaret Thatcher influenced the Conservative Party in general and the parliamentary Conservative Party both directly and indirectly. The discussion of concepts, for instance "influence" and "politics", constitutes an important part of the second chapter. The claim that Margaret Thatcher influenced the Conservative Party in general and the parliamentary Conservative Party both directly and indirectly is validated, particularly when it comes to influencing the party negatively with respect to publicity. This is the theme of the third chapter. The party division became more evident over the EU-issue, even if this was something that many others also contributed to. Thatcher's open display of disloyalty encouraged several other Eurosceptic politicians to voice their opposition. Thatcher’s willingness to encourage rebellions in important divisions in the House of Commons had a devastating effect on the prime minister and his government. The conclusion to the first hypothesis might not come as a big surprise; however, her "behind the scenes" activity in the House of Commons and also the effect of her presence at party conferences has been little focused on in previous research.
Since Thatcher was very active outside Parliament after her resignation, a substantial study had to include other areas where political debates took place. She obviously attracted a lot of media attention whenever she travelled and gave speeches worldwide. This leads to hypothesis number two: Margaret Thatcher influenced public opinion through her public appearances, books and articles. The fourth chapter deals primarily with many of the public appearances that Margaret Thatcher had outside Parliament; on travels abroad and in Britain. Many of speeches were held by invitation, others were due to Thatcher's own initiative. It is vital to remember that Thatcher voiced her political views when she appeared publicly on events to speak or to advertise her books. It is conceivable that she sought to exert her influence on people in general as well as leaders, advisers, consultants, academics, and political commentators in particular. Thatcher's initiatives to influence public opinion were numerous, and the claim that she did exert influence is validated. The different speeches, books, articles, newspaper reports and interviews took place outside Parliament, but on close inspection this indirectly influenced her party colleagues in Parliament as well. Many of Thatcher's initiatives can be interpreted as agenda-setting in the public debate - with headlines on the front pages of newspapers or with television interviews. Indirectly the public esteem for the Conservative Party might have been severely damaged, with all the displays of criticism and party division. Thatcher’s books and articles seemed to have had profound influence on how the party was perceived in the mass media, although this can not be said to be proven in this dissertation.
Jim Buller’s concept ‘the Court’ has indirectly inspired the third hypothesis in this dissertation, which is: Margaret Thatcher's indirect influence of right-wing think-tanks and Conservative or Eurosceptic organizations contributed to increased Euroscepticism in Britain in the 1990s. There were numerous right-wing think-tanks and organizations that fought against the Maastricht Treaty, the single currency or for a referendum in the 1990s. In addition there were single-issue parties, like the Referendum Party and the UK Independence Party. Some of these organizations were explicitly Thatcherite or Eurosceptic. Thatcher and other Eurosceptic politicians in Parliament were members of several think-tanks or groups at the same time, which gave them an enhanced opportunity to benefit from a resourceful network of likeminded people with the expressed goal of influencing politicians and the electorate. Some newspaper proprietors, and the journalists and editors working for them, seemed to sympathize with Margaret Thatcher and her political views in the 1990s, and gave her a chance to attract attention through headlines and front-page coverage. This was especially true in the years before the 1997 general election, when the Conservative Party was heavily defeated by the Labour Party after 18 years in government. The research material for the fifth chapter was found to be quite sparse or difficult to obtain. Since this chapter mainly deals with indirect influence from Thatcher on several Eurosceptic organizations and think-tanks, the conclusions have to be drawn with caution. There is no doubt that the issue of further integration of Britain and the rest of the EU members played a fairly important role during the 1990s and the first half of the next decade in British politics and especially for the Conservative Party. However, Thatcher’s influence on the Bruges Group and the Conservative Way Forward is easier to establish than on other think-tanks or groups. Some of the groups mentioned above seem to have been influential in the House of Commons whenever the debates were about EU-related matters, especially during the Major governments in the 1990s. This seems to be especially the case of the Fresh Start group and the parliamentary Friends of Bruges group. The role of the newspapers, however, is far from clear-cut. Their potential political influence is a debatable issue which was only very briefly discussed in this dissertation. The reasons for increased Euroscepticism in Britain in the 1990s can be attributed to a variety of factors. Eurosceptic politicians and others had different reasons for their scepticism. Margaret Thatcher was not alone in her Eurosceptic views; there were several other prominent politicians who fought against further European integration, not least in the Thatcherite and Eurosceptic organizations that were discussed in this chapter. The evidence for the third hypothesis does to a certain degree support the stated claim, but it seems that many aspects related to increased Euroscepticism have not been discussed thoroughly enough to validate the claim.
The concluding answer to the research question is that Margaret Thatcher influenced the course of British politics in the twelve years following her resignation in 1990 to a great extent directly through her books, articles, speeches, party conference participation, television interviews and indirectly through media coverage and Thatcherite or Eurosceptic organizations. | eng |