Adam Smith Institute

A complete guide through the theory, strategy, and record of rolling back the state in the UK - privatization, internal markets in health education, making executive agencies more independent, and the Citizen's Charter.

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The first ten years of Thatcher's rule saw remarkable change in the UK. Having won three successive general elections, area after area of seemingly intractable problems had been tackled and replaced with successes. This report collects news items from throughout that decade of revolution, charting the achievements of the period.

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“Micropolitics’ analyzes the process of policy formulation which makes allies of the various interest groups affected by change. Dr Pirie sets out the thinking behind some of the policies which characterized the Thatcher revolution in Britain, and to some degree those of the Reagan revolution in the United States. It deals with techniques such as ‘micro-incrementalism’ – policies which gradually replace one state of affairs with another because many people feel more comfortable with gradual, creeping reform.

His view is that we should make advances where and when we can, if they all point in the same direction. Each new status quo achieved will serve as a springboard for the next advance. ‘Micropolitics’ tells how and why.

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Michael Forsyth provides the solutions for the abject failure of public services in the late 1970s and early 1980s: "Local authorities seeking to make cuts in expenditure and increase benefits to ratepayers must now undertake extensive privatization of their services. The best method is just to do it, to put out services for private contract. The arguments of theory against the success of such action melt away in the practical results gained wherever it is done. The British people have come to expect that public services will become lower in quality and' more expensive to provide. This need not be so. Privatization has its part to play, therefore, not only in re–servicing Britain, but in helping to restore the country's faith in itself."

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