Ideology Essay -- British Politics

political theory has play an important part in British political sympathies for centuries. It vie a part in the setting up of the three major(ip) parties as we know them today. Ideology is difficult to define as it is such as widely and loosely used term. Andrew Vincent as well as many other authors, Vincent describes political theory as, the term political orientation was a mintage compounded from the Greek terms eidos and logos. It buns be defined as a science of ideas (Vincent 2009p.1). Even from this definition it is difficult to fully say the term ideology as it has such a broad definition. The ever-changing nature of British politics in the post-war era contri scarcelyed to the level of grandeur that ideology had during this period. The post-war period became none as an era of consensus politics, the post-war consensus has been described by David Marsh as, a distinct policy paradigm which shaped the strategical choices of Britains leading political actors as they sou ght to build and then to protect a New Jerusalem from the damage created by the war (Marsh 1999p.67) this so called post-war consensus definitely played a part in the removal of ideology from British politics. Although the post-war consensus did take away the importance of ideology in British politics, there were periods within the post-war consensus where radical ideologies emerged. Ideology was important in Clement Attlees government, which had a collectivist policy agenda through the introduction of the NHS and the advancement of the welfare state, in the 1980s through the emergence of Thatcherism, as well as the creation of New Labour in 1997 and even the current government can be seen as ideological. This essay provide first look at the important role that ideology does have to play, and has play... ...the war. Although there has been times when ideology may be seen as unimportant, such as the post-war consensus, this can be seen as an ideology in itself due to the ambig uity of the term, as Hickson writes, two the Labour and Conservative parties accepted the ideology of social democracy (Hickson 2004 p.143). thence it is only fair to say that ideology has been important in British politics in the post-war era. Thatcher, Attlee and Blair were clearly ideologically motivated as their policies showed, but the post-war consensus can also be seen as a period of ideology that the major parties agreed on, and even the current government can be seen as promoting a new kind of ideology of compromise, ideology has and will continue to play an important role in British politics for centuries to come as ideologies adapt and evolve to fit the political circumstances.