scholarly journals Stopping Moderate Inflations: The Methods of Poincaré and Thatcher

Author(s):  
Thomas J. Sargent

This chapter examines the methods adopted by British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her French counterpart Raymond Poincaré to reduce the rate of inflation. Advocates of the two main groups of contemporary theories about inflation dynamics could have told Mrs. Thatcher that achieving that goal would be difficult. The first group consists of the “momentum” or “core inflation” theories, while the second group comprises the rational expectations-equilibrium theories. The chapter first provides an overview of the so-called Poincaré miracle before discussing Mrs. Thatcher's plan. It then considers the nature of the British government deficit, along with Britain's prospective revenues from North Sea oil that coincided with a simultaneous appreciation of the pound sterling. Finally, it compares Mrs. Thatcher's policies with respect to the coordination of monetary and fiscal policy with those of U.S. President Ronald Reagan.

2010 ◽  
pp. 159-163
Author(s):  
Sally-Ann Treharne

Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan made a formidable team in the international political environment of the 1980s. Their close working and indeed personal relationship shaped the future of Western European defence, facilitated the eventual fall of Communism, and brought international recognition to the Anglo-American Special Relationship. It was a testimony to a joint commitment to a renewal in transatlantic relations following a lull in the 1970s. Both leaders had vastly different personalities with Mrs. Thatcher often portrayed as Reagan’s proverbial ‘poodle’ in such satirical shows as the infamous Spitting Image. However, in reality the relationship was in many ways led by the British Prime Minister who was willing to assert her considerable influence over her American counterpart at any given opportunity. The relationship ore, was indeed ‘Special’. It went beyond the normal political protocol associated with bilateral cooperation and consultation. It was a relationship that endured many highs and lows ...


Author(s):  
Andrew Sanders

The election of Ronald Reagan in 1980 reinforced one of the most famous international alliances, often known as the “special relationship”, and this chapter explores the ways in which Reagan was often caught between the direction of the US Congress, in particular Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill and Senator Ted Kennedy, and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. The changing dynamics of the conflict in Northern Ireland saw electoral politics rise to prominence, particularly following the 1981 hunger strike that saw ten republican prisoners starve to death, with two of the men elected to public office in London and Dublin. The influence of both O’Neill and Reagan on the 1985 Anglo Irish Agreement, a significant moment in the developing peace process, is also examined in this chapter, as is the issue of the extradition of IRA on-the-runs from the US to the UK.


Author(s):  
Manfred B. Steger ◽  
Ravi K. Roy

‘Three waves of neoliberalism’ examines the three waves of neoliberalism, starting with the emergence of neoliberalism in the Anglosphere under the conservative leaderships of US President Ronald Reagan and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Meanwhile, the second wave of neoliberalism became associated with a new kind of global economic and political cosmopolitanism called market globalism. Identifying themselves with a politically moderate position known as the Third Way, US President Bill Clinton and British Prime Minister Tony Blair embraced this neoliberal ideology. US President Barack Obama's presidency marked the rise of third-wave neoliberalism by refusing to impose restrictions on the monopolistic practices of emerging e-commerce firms.


2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 157-178
Author(s):  
Caitlin Shaw

This article examines three recent biopics depicting former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher: the single dramas Margaret Thatcher: The Long Walk to Finchley (BBC4, 2008) and Margaret (BBC2, 2009), and the UK/France co-production The Iron Lady (2011). Recognising their differences as indicative of divergent contexts of production, the article considers how each film similarly responds to industrial and social demands for 1980s-related British content but is forced to contend with the multitudinous incompatible readings inspired by Margaret Thatcher's heavily mediated iconography. The Long Walk to Finchley and Margaret, produced for domestic British television viewers, use strategies that encourage ambivalence, relying formally on ahistorical genres and narratively on self-conscious representation to distance themselves from docudrama and appease polarised viewers. However, The Iron Lady, a feature film destined for international theatrical release, broadens Thatcher's appeal by emphasising stylistic verisimilitude and structuring its narrative according to the subjective memories of a fictionalised Thatcher. This allows space for multiple interpretations: Thatcher's memories can be read as evidence of her political success, as the delusions of an ageing woman, or as indications of her struggle for power as a woman in a male-dominated sphere. The article suggests that all three productions foreground difficulties in recalling, in biopic form, a British politician whose motifs have been widely mediated and parodied and whose policies instil tremendously opposing sentiments and views.


1988 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-38
Author(s):  
Luke Van Buuren

Ear training is an essential element in any phonetics or pronunciation teaching. In recent years I have been developing an ear-training method based on repeater tapes (each line repeated nine or ten times) of ‘unusual’ personalities and accents. The recordings are first transcribed by rule of thumb according to our own norm (RP English, Standard Dutch, etc.) and the idea is that the major differences from this norm are then listened to and analysed. If the observations are summarized at the end, one has a fair idea of what is characteristic of that particular type of speech. By way of illustration I shall present such a summary of 85 seconds of speech by The Rt Hon. Margaret Thatcher, the British Prime Minister, taken from an interview on Dutch television made in 1982. It will appear that we do not only analyse phonetic phenomena, but cannot help noticing in this case their semantic impact as well. Perhaps our observations may be of some interest to semanticists and psychologists as well as phoneticians.


1982 ◽  
Vol 22 (229) ◽  
pp. 219-219

On 12 August 1982, while on holiday in Switzerland, the British Prime Minister, Mrs. Margaret Thatcher, paid a private visit to the International Committee of the Red Cross. She was accompanied by her husband, Mr. Denis Thatcher. In the absence of the President of the ICRC, she was welcomed by Mr. Richard Pestalozzi, its Vice-President.


2021 ◽  
pp. 97-116
Author(s):  
Niall Ó Dochartaigh

Beginning in late 1973, there was a step change in communication between the IRA leadership and the British government. The back-channel that hitherto had involved little more than the exchange of political thinking was used increasingly for negotiation on urgent issues including kidnappings, hunger strikes, and the legalization of Sinn Féin. Chapter Four examines the modes of reciprocal exchange and protocols for communication that developed over the course of 1974. It highlights the close involvement of the British Prime Minister and other government ministers in the exchanges and it examines the use of the back-channel to clarify the meaning of public statements. This series of exchanges in 1974 allowed both parties to test whether their interlocutors really had the authority to make commitments and the power to deliver on them. The exchanges contributed to the building of limited trust between the IRA leadership and the British government as each side learned that the other would stand by commitments, respect the integrity of protocols for communication, and not abuse contact for direct military or political advantage. This new communication infrastructure, reinforced by repeated interaction and exchanges, provided a strong foundation for the subsequent intensification and deepening of political engagement.


1994 ◽  
Vol 42 (1_suppl) ◽  
pp. 52-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Wallace

‘My first guideline is this: willing and active cooperation between independent sovereign states is the best way to build a successful European Community. To try to suppress nationhood and concentrate power at the centre of a European conglomerate would be highly damaging. … Europe will be stronger precisely because it has France as France, Spain as Spain, Britain as Britain, each with its own customs, traditions and identity.’ Margaret Thatcher, British Prime Minister, speech to College of Europe in Bruges, 20 September 1988. ‘The nation state was the twin of the industrial society, and like industrial society it is becoming outworn. … The evolution of Europe in the next decades will be shaped by the phasing in of the information society to replace the industrial culture and industrial technology which have served us so well for almost two hundred years. Poul Schluter, Danish Prime Minister, speech to the America–European Community Association, London, 20 September 1988. ‘Nations are not everlasting. They have a beginning, they will have an end. Probably a European confederation will replace them.’ Ernest Renan, Qu'est-ce qu'une nation? Lecture to Sorbonne, Paris, 11 March 1882. ‘Both the nation state and integration appear as fortunate accidents of the time, fundamentally contradictory tendencies, which nevertheless in promoting economic growth fortuitously complemented each other.’ Alan Milward, The European Rescue of the Nation State (London, Routledge, 1992), p. 24.


1983 ◽  
Vol 95 ◽  
pp. 427-455 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony Dicks

The current controversy between Great Britain and China regarding the legal status of Hong Kong, having lain dormant for many years, was made explicit by a public exchange of statements between the governments of the two countries during and after the visit to Beijing of British Prime Minister Mrs Margaret Thatcher in September 1982.


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