Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) famously made capitalism in Britain fashionable again. While in practice she struggled to reduce the size of the state, her rhetoric emphasised the importance of self-help, private ownership and competition. Her long premiership — 1979 to 1990 — started with a battle against the trade unions and ended with the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe. While US leadership played the major role in the fight against the Soviet Union, Thatcherism was an inspiration for many Eastern European leaders who sought to liberalise their economies in the 1990s. In short, Thatcherism and capitalism were synonymous.
This article is essential reading for A2 students preparing for political ideologies examinations. It focuses on the following aspects of the specifications:
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