Atlas / Organisations / Postwar Consensus
Postwar Consensus
Butskellism · 1945–1979 · Britain · Centrist Coalition · Held state power · coding confidence high
Each axis runs from −10 to +10, with zero a genuine mixed or balanced position rather than an absence of opinion. A score describes a stated position and a governing record; it is not a judgement of merit. What each score means →
Core principles
A bipartisan settlement: full employment, mixed economy, national health service, and union recognition.
Economic model
Nationalised coal, rail, steel, utilities; Keynesian demand management; universal health care.
Organisation of powers
Parliamentary democracy with alternating parties committed to the same framework.
Reading note
Both major British parties of this era sit to the economic left of most parties now called left-wing.
Check a claim about Postwar Consensus. The interactive atlas measures the distance between any two organisations across all six axes and shows which ones carry the disagreement.
Open in the atlasThe evidence for every score
All six cells are sourced. A rationale explains what the score is measuring and each artefact is something a third party can check without taking anyone's word for it.
EC · Economic organisation · scored −03
Coded −3: both major parties accepted the nationalised industries and the welfare state.
- Programme textThe 1944 employment white paper committed the state to maintaining high and stable employment.
- Documented act or statuteConservative governments after 1951 denationalised only steel and road haulage.
CU · Social and cultural order · scored −01
Coded −1: socially conservative until the reforms of the 1960s.
- Documented act or statuteHomosexuality was decriminalised and abortion legalised in 1967 by free vote.
AU · Organisation of power · scored −05
Coded −5: alternating parliamentary government with strong conventions.
- Documented act or statutePower changed hands six times between 1945 and 1979 without constitutional dispute.
SC · Scale of decision · scored +03
Coded +3: national ownership and national health provision administered centrally.
- Documented act or statuteThe NHS was established as a national service in 1948 rather than a municipal one.
ID · Rule of membership · scored +01
Coded +1: Commonwealth citizenship extended and then progressively restricted.
- Documented act or statuteThe 1948 Nationality Act granted right of entry; acts of 1962, 1968 and 1971 removed it.
CH · Method and tempo · scored −08
Coded −8: a bipartisan settlement neither party sought to overturn for three decades.
- Documented act or statuteConservative governments after 1951 retained the NHS and most nationalised industries.
Nearest organisations by measured distance
Straight-line separation across all six axes, out of a maximum of 49.0. Proximity means similarity of stated position, not endorsement and not resemblance in outcome.
- Republican People's Party3.7
- Japanese Liberal Opposition4.7
- Komeito4.7
- Costa Rican Social Democracy5.2
- Pacific Climate Diplomacy5.4
- Chilean Polarisation6.0
Countries
Cite this page
Scores are revised on evidence, so a citation should carry the version it refers to. Version 4.3.1 is current; the revision log records every change.
Free to quote and reproduce with attribution. This is a synthesis rather than a peer-reviewed dataset — where an authoritative figure is needed, cite the Chapel Hill Expert Survey, the Manifesto Project or V-Dem.