In today's day, there is a huge debate between state power or power to the people, with every individual and inhabitant of a country all having their own views. Within this essay, the aims are to investigate to what extent the shift in power from capital to state control and whether or not a rise in populism has shaped the nature of politics today. The main topic of this essay is how populism is rising and shaping the world in which we live in and the nature of politics, a strong look into Neoliberalism vs Liberalism and from that the essay will include a section on a Brexit vs Thatcherism comparison with a subtopic/section of a closer look into Brexit and how it proves that a rise in populism is shaping politics. These are all important factors to consider as historical events seen to have shaped politics to how it is today. b
Populism is in the interests and populists make their decisions for the benefits of ordinary people, Liberalism is the interest of the masses and underdogs. Populism is what Ernesto Laclau called an "elusive" concept in which the notion of the people features prominently. Laclau argues that modern society is characterized by an enormous heterogeneity and populism makes an effort to search for and express shared identities. A special role in the quest for homogeneity is assigned to "the people", which Laclau therefore principally perceives as a political category (Laclau, 2005). This identification with "the people" is indeed most often cited as the prime characteristic of populism in general and of the populist radical right in particular. (Corduwener, P. (2014). The Populist Conception of Democracy beyond Popular Sovereignty. Journal of Contemporary European Research, 10(4), pp.423-437.)
Neoliberalism for a long time has played a huge part in shaping the history of the UK and its political parties and decisions, however, today there is a clear rise in liberalism and this, therefore, shows how there is now a greater interest in the ‘ordinary people.' The rise in liberalism and populism has proven to have grown in popularity this is seen and demonstrated by recent events such as Brexit.
Neoliberalism presents itself as an idea or belief in light of the inflexible certainties of current financial aspects. However, in spite of its logical trappings, present-day financial matters aren't a logical teach however the thorough elaboration of a certain social hypothesis, which has turned out to be so profoundly installed in western ideology. The establishments of modern economics, and of the belief system of neoliberalism, come from and go back to Adam Smith and his work, The Wealth of Nations. Over the course of the past few hundred years, Smith's contentions have been formalized and created with more prominent investigative thoroughness, yet the basic assumptions supporting neoliberalism remain the same, those that were proposed by Adam Smith.
When Adam Smith composed The Wealth of Nations the essential thought of Smith's scrutinize was that the 'abundance of the country' got not from the gathering of riches by the state to the detriment of its subjects and outside forces, yet from the improvement of the division of work. The division of work created because of the activity and undertaking of private people and would build up the all the more quickly the all the more such people were allowed to apply their venture and activity and to receive the relating benefits.
Smith established the frameworks of neoliberalism with his contention that free trade was an exchange from which the two gatherings fundamentally profited since no one would deliberately participate in a trade from which they would end up worse off. As Milton Friedman put it, neoliberalism lays on the "rudimentary recommendation that the two gatherings to a financial exchange advantage from it, gave the exchange is respectively wilful and educated" (Friedman, 1962, p. 55). Therefore, any limitation on the flexibility or freedom of trade will lessen prosperity by denying people the chance to enhance their circumstances and situations. Also, Smith argued, the expansion of the market allowed expanding specialization thus the advancement of the division of labour. The advantages gained through the exchange were not advantages gained by one party at the expense of another. Trade was the method by which the advantages gained through the expanded division of labour were shared between the two parties to the exchange.
Trade was the method by which the points of interest increased through the expanded division of work were shared between the two gatherings to the trade. The prompt ramifications of Smith's contention are that any boundaries to the flexibility of trade restrict the improvement of the division of work thus the development of the abundance of the country and the flourishing of every single one of its subjects.
Adam Smith did not anticipate that his logical arguments would have much effect as a result of the political weight of the personal stakes related with the mercantilist state and the frontier framework.
The word "liberal" carries strong connotations in modern political discussions. About as many self-identify as being liberal in their political views as those who adamantly avoid such a label. However, the historical roots of liberalism have produced a rich and diverse system of philosophical branches. In fact, many of these branches of liberalism stand diametrically opposed to one another on many political and economic issues. The word "liberal" doesn't adequately capture the dexterity around this philosophical concept. Classic liberalism was developed in 18th-century Europe and drew on the economic writings of Adam Smith. Liberalism ultimately is a political philosophy and its main focus is based on individual freedom of thought, religion, life and property ownership. The term is more popular nowadays.
Moving on from liberalism vs neoliberalism looking into Thatcher vs Brexit. Thatcher was a neoliberalist along with the EU whereas Brexit is Liberalist and the UK has long been ‘Eurosceptic'. Brexit is seen as breaking away.
The liberal principles propounded by Adam Smith went under assault from two headings. From one perspective, Smith's optimal society was one of the confined people, each seeking after his own particular self-intrigue. Men sought after their self-intrigue, while ladies and kids remained their wards inside the family – as Margaret Thatcher famously declared: 'there is no such thing as society. There are singular people, and there are families' (Margaret Thatcher, Woman's Own, October 3, 1987). Smith's 'sentimental' pundits contended that this model overlooks the most particular attributes of human culture, ethical quality, religion, workmanship, and culture, that give higher qualities than the individual and hoist mankind over the creature state of looking for quick delight. Thatcher was an internationalist. She argued for an EU of sovereign states. She wanted Europe to work together voluntarily by supporting shared institutions to; open all markets, collaborate on international problems, to fight cross-border terrorism. Fully back the military alliance with the united states, integrate eastern Europe into the liberal economic system and to support common policies for promoting democratic governance and human rights in Eastern Europe and Russia. Margaret Thatcher and French President François Mitterrand initially had mixed feelings about German unification, however, Germany was prepared to offer the USSR massive compensation. The parties came quite swiftly to an agreement and a treaty on Final Settlement on Germany was signed in Moscow on September 12, 1990.
The people of Britain, although close, voted to leave the EU. This is a massive part and historical event in politics. It was David Cameron who called the 2016 referendum on the UK's membership of the EU. He called for the referendum to be held because in his opinion it would never happen. Cameron campaigned to stay in. The Remain campaign during the referendum warned of an immediate economic impact on the UK of a vote to leave the European Union and later he announced he was resigning on the day he lost the referendum resigned after the Leave side won. England voted in favor of Brexit, Wales also voted for Brexit, with 52.5% voting leave and 47.5% remain. Scotland and Northern Ireland both backed staying in the EU. The UK and the European Union are currently negotiating the terms for the UK's exit and future relations. The set date Brexit has been agreed for 29 March 2019. After the results of Brexit and Cameron resigning Theresa May became the new prime minister for Britain. Theresa May now faces a daunting task of organizing the Brexit from the EU all whilst keeping her party and country together.
Theresa May was against Brexit during the actual referendum campaign for Britain to leave the EU however, she is now in favour of it because she says it is what the British people want. Her key message has been that "Brexit means Brexit" and she triggered the two-year process of leaving the EU on 29 March 2017. She set out her negotiating goals in a letter to the EU council president Donald Tusk. She outlined her plans for a transition period after Brexit in a big speech in Florence, Italy.
Brexit proves that, due to the drastic changes in politics since Thatcher's time, as prime minister, in comparison to nowadays where it is all about the people and self-interests. Populism ultimately is about power to the people and Brexit shows just how much populism is shaping politics and the decisions made.
Not too long after the Brexit vote, there was the presidential election in America between Hilary Clinton, Democrat and Donal Trump, Republican. To the surprise of many came the acclamation of Donald Trump as the president of the United States of America. This has been broadly interpreted as indicating public dissatisfaction with mainstream politicians. In Europe, anti-establishment forces begin to grow and gain popularity, voicing their concerns and disagreement with the actions of conventional political elites who they allege of getting disciplinarian to Brussels, banking markets, and trade deals. These populist parties believe establishment figures in politics have distanced themselves from ordinary politicians chosen to represent. "A lot of these anti-establishment parties – UKIP, the Front National in France, Podemos in Spain or the Socialist Party in the Netherlands – assemblage nationalist or anti-capitalist sentiments." These parties state to assure protection of "ordinary" people against the "caste" of career politicians whose behaviour they allege of safeguarding the interests of immigrants and all-embracing organizations, or bankers and bunch corporations. What both the nationalist and anti-capitalist visions accept in common, however, is their wording and way of portraying the way a political debate is now viewed in the terms of "us" against "them".
Interestingly, the upward push of many of these populist anti-establishment forces predates the economic crisis. Populist political entrepreneurs, who've skilfully galvanized anti-institution sentiments via framing themselves as political outsiders, had been steadily gaining prominence on the EU continent over a few years. Take the instance of the freedom party in Austria, whose candidate Norbert Hofer was once very triumphant within the contemporary Austrian presidential election. It entered a executive coalition with the conservative get together after a sweeping victory in the 1999 parliamentary elections. The contemporary financial and refugee crises have quickened the electoral success of anti-institution parties as blaming Brussels, bankers or immigrants for recent political and economic tribulations is a triumphant electoral component. The latest European Parliament (EP) election in 2014 noticed the strongest gains for anti-institution parties. One 0.33 of individuals of the EP belong to Eurosceptic occasion organizations, with an identical development unfolding in countrywide election contests.
Marine Le Pen of France's National Front kicked off her bid for the presidency in the French elections with all the populist flourish which drove Donald Trump to power in the White House and is currently leading polls for the upcoming election. Wherever she went, she was greeted by anti-immigrant chants of "This is our country". Similarly, in the Netherlands, the far-right Party for Freedom led by Mr. Geert Wilders is head to head in the polls and with Britain leaving the EU it appears to be a global trend for populist movements and leaders to be gaining support.
Historical political events prove that populism is on the rise and it can almost be looked at as a domino effect; Brexit, French elections Le Pen, Netherlands and Geert Wilders as well as Donald Trump. Populists tend to raise issues that a lot of people are concerned about. populist parties are making electoral progress across the European continent. Politics is about getting your message across and populists are very good at getting their message across.
I Georgia Hale declare that I am the sole author of this assignment and the work is a result of my own investigations, except where otherwise stated. All references have been duly cited