Atlas / Organisations / Thatcherism
Thatcherism
1979–1990 · Britain · Neoliberal Conservative · 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
Roll back the state, break union power, sell public assets, restore the authority of law, order and family.
Economic model
Privatisation of utilities and housing, monetarism, deregulation of finance, deep cuts to industrial subsidy.
Organisation of powers
Parliamentary democracy but strongly centralising: abolished the metropolitan councils and capped local government.
Reading note
Economically decentralising and administratively centralising at once. A single left–right number cannot record that.
Check a claim about Thatcherism. 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 +09
Deep privatisation and financial deregulation places this near the market pole.
- Documented act or statuteTelecoms, gas, water, electricity, steel and airports were sold between 1984 and 1990.
- Documented act or statuteCouncil housing was sold to tenants at statutory discounts from 1980.
CU · Social and cultural order · scored +06
Coded +6: an explicit programme of moral restoration alongside the economic one.
- Documented act or statuteSection 28, enacted in 1988, prohibited local authorities from promoting homosexuality.
AU · Organisation of power · scored +02
Coded +2: parliamentary throughout, with a sharply strengthened central executive.
- Documented act or statuteTrade union legislation between 1980 and 1990 progressively restricted secondary action and required ballots.
SC · Scale of decision · scored +05
Coded positive on centralisation despite the economic decentralisation, which is the instructive part of the entry.
- Documented act or statuteThe Greater London Council and the six metropolitan county councils were abolished in 1986.
- Documented act or statuteLocal authority rate-setting was capped from 1984.
ID · Rule of membership · scored +03
Coded +3: the 1981 Act redefined citizenship and ended automatic birthright.
- Documented act or statuteThe British Nationality Act 1981 abolished unconditional jus soli.
CH · Method and tempo · scored +03
Coded +3: constitutional in method and deliberately confrontational in execution.
- Documented act or statuteThe 1984–85 miners' strike was prepared for by stockpiling coal in advance.
Where it came from, and what came after
- takes its doctrine fromNeoliberalism
The Institute of Economic Affairs and the Centre for Policy Studies were the transmission mechanism.
Scores that have been revised
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.
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.