Post-Coalition Consensus

We all know very well that Thatcher and Blair left a consensus for the following parties in power to clean up or in many cases - to carry on. The Post-Thatcher consensus left New Labour increasing the gap between the rich and the poor and they decided to carry on the legacy of free market economics. Blair left a behind authoritarian crime policies and continued to widen the gap of those in poverty compared to those living in luxury. Furthermore, how would Cameron's legacy look like if the Tories leave office this May? Will it be as devastating and hard to get over as Thatcher's was or will there be no need to carry it on?

Lets start with the NHS 

What has Cameron & Co done to the NHS since 2010? Key findings by the King's Fund in Feb 2015 shows that:

• The Coalition government's reforms have resulted in greater marketisation of the NHS but that claims of mass privatisation are exaggerated
• Reforms have resulted in top-down reorganisation of the NHS and ths has been distracting and damaging 
• New systems of governance and accountability resulting from reforms are complex and confusing 
• Absence of system leadership is increasingly problematic when the NHS needs to undertake major service changes 
• Care Act has created a legal frameworl for introducing a fairer system of funding of long-term care. 

Throughout the parliament, the NHS has come under pressure from constrained resources and rising demand for care, with an increasing number of providers falling into deficit and targets for patient care being missed. 

So if the Cameron/Coalition Legacy is to continue, there are several problems that need to be solved:

1. The next government should continue the emphasis on patient safety and quality of care but with less emphasis on regulation and more on supporting NHS leaders and staff to improve care.
2. Further top-down reorganisations must be avoided, but evolutionary and bottom-up changes to the organisation of the NHS are needed to reduce the complexity and confusion. 

Immigration 

Cameron promised last year the "no ifs, no buts" method to reduce net migration to the "tens of thousands" by the time of the general election - he has failed. The Conservations will go into the election with the politically sensitive net migration figure of 54,000 higher than when they made their pledge in 2010. 

• Instead of reducing net migration to Britain to below 100,000, the latest figures show that it is now almost 300,000, its highest level since 2005.
• Why? Two reasons: Increases from immigration from outside the EU (49,000) and increase of 43,000 from within the EU, owing to the free immigration rules. 
• The Tories' net migration target was never endorsed by their Lib Dem partners.
• UKIP - the main reason why both Labour and the Conservatives are anxious about immigration. When Cameron launched his "six priorities" for the election campaign in January, immigration surprisingly wasn't included. 

The politicians know migration targets will not work but now falsely believe they are essential to convincing the voters they can get immigration under control. 

The Economy 

In 2010, Cameron boasted that Britain was "out of the danger zone." Four years on, with unemployment tumbling, growth resurgent and wages finally picking up, the warning lights are flashing again. He once vowed to "let sunshine win the day." However, George Osbourne has officially missed eliminating the deficit by the end of this parliament. This can be explained in simple terms: more people are working, but are poorly paid and are earning less. 

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Pegida - Fascism Case Study (March 2015)

(source http://www.theguardian.com/world/shortcuts/2015/jan/06/pegida-what-does-german-far-right-movement-actually-stand-for)

Pegida - Germany's Far Right Movement that has attracted 18,000 supporters in the past 3 months. 

What you need to know about Pegida:

• Leader - Lutz Bachmann 
• Pegida stands for "Patriotic Europeans agains the Islamistation of the West"
• The group campaigns against what it perceives as the growing influence of Islam in Europe and increasing immigration 
• Marches have been held in the Czech Republic, Denmark and Norway and sympathiser groups have formed in European countries such as Spain, Sweden and Switzerland 
• The group denies it is racist, but has attracted praise from far-right groups
• Angela Merkel has criticised the protests, calling them xenophobic and racist, stating in her New Year Address to the public "Don't follow these people" as she said that the people behind Pegida have "coldness, prejudice and hatred in their hearts." 

In the UK:

• The far right group has announced that protests against the perceived "Islamisation of the west"  will take place in Newcastle (the groups first UK rally) 
• This protest is a reaction to the Paris terrorist attacks that happened in January of this year 
• Newcastle Central's MP Chi Onwarah states that "Pegida, like EDL and all those who try to peddle a message of hatred, will find they have no place in Newcastle."

Evaluation 

Pegida has most of the characteristics of a far right party that rises in popularity in the 21st century. It holds principles that many angry and frustrated people feel about modern life - the scale of immigrants, asylum seekers and the "islamification" of the West. Pegida holds facists themes such as a populist leader who holds attention of the crowds with his vast views of modern Germany. However, like many far-right groups in this century such as the BNP and EDL, Bachmann lacks the charisma which is essential in far right politics. Bachmann has made fatal mistakes such as posing as Hitler on social networks which credits the party's "we're not racists, but" tagline. Pegida will grow ever more popular owing to the economic climate in Europe, the rise of Terrorist attacks and the general apathy the electorate has with the main political parties - these factors showcase how far-right groups will always prosper in times of austerity, and will continue to prosper until these factors have found a solution. 

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What are Socialism's Key Definitions? (10 Marks)

EQUALITY - Social equality (egalitarianism). Absolute vs. relative, essential to ensure social cohesion and fraternity, ensuing justice and equality and enlarging positive freedom. 

FREEDOM - positive, self-fulfilment through free creative labour or social interaction 

FRATERNITY - "brotherhood" bounds of sympathy and comradeship between and amongst human beings. We are tied in a common humanity 

CLASS CONFLICT - "class struggles" - tensions or antagonisms which exist in society due to competing socio-economic interests and contrasting desires within society. Marx and Engels - a product of capitalism and proletariat revolution is the only way to abolish it. 

SOCIAL JUSTICE - morally justifiable distrubtion of wealth, implying a greater committment to equality. The overiding principle of social democracy

COOPERATION - collective effort intended to achieve mutual benefit. Contrasts to competition, as it makes moral and economic sense to work cooperatively. Collective energies harnesssed not individual. 

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Fascism Essay Response: Why is Fascism often associated with Populism?

Why is Fascism often associated with Populism? (10 Marks)

Break down the question

Define and Explain:

• Populism is essentially the belief that the instincts of the people provide the principle legitimate guide to political action 
• Populist movements or parties are characterised by their claim to support he common in the fact or "corrupt economic or political elites who claim to know what is the best for the common people and good for the state as a whole."
• Populist politicians thus make a direct appeal to the people and claim to given expression to their deepest hopes and fears - they articulate the genuine interests of the people. Populist leaders distrust all intermediary institutions. 

Examples:

• In recent decades, the appeals made by extremist right wing movements to the "native" peoples of Western Europe and the USA to challenge the destruction of superior cultures and formerly healthier economies by on-white an non-Christian immigrants
• Mussolini and Hitler's direct appeal to "the people" emphasising solidarity and collective action as correctives to failing bourgeois liberal democratic regimes
• In Nazi Germany, emphasis on the "Volk" - the white, Aryan population and in Italy on true heirs of the Roman Empire. These groupings of people were regarded as noble, spiritual and creative, unlike the alien races and peoples who sought to undermine or failed to recognise such glorious heritages. 
• Distrust of the ruling classes on the basis of them being cosmopolitan, detached an elitist, in addition to being intellectually arrogant and ignorant of the needs and aspirations of the "ordinary' people. 

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Fascism Essay Response: Explain why Fascism is described as being Anti-Intellectual and Anti-Rational.

Explain why Fascism is described as being "Anti-Intellectual" and "Anti-Rational." (10 Marks)

Break down the question:

Define and Explain:

• One reason for supporting this description lies in the roots of the ideology - essentially the voluntaristic idea that the will is prior to and superior to the intellect or reason - Nietzsche's critique of the view that humans act in accordance with reason. Fascists preferred to "think with blood" relying on intuition, action and emotion rather than on reflection and reason, acting from the "heart rather than the head." 
• Fascists held the view that rationalism produced a politics based on a government by consent, characterised by constitutionalism and the protection of human rights. Such systems were anathema to fascists, who saw liberal democracies as being weak and without direction 

Link 1 - Will to Action 

• These stances are also in accordance with the fascist desire for heroic, decisive action in the name of the state, behaviour that could be easily realised through "sloppy" democracies operating via a consensus. Such views are encapsulated in the fascist "will to action."

Link 2 - Liberalism's "failed" approach to the Economy 

• Liberalism (a product of rationalism) underpinned capitalism, an economic system that brought about economic depression in the inter-war years which those on the far right also blame for the banking crisis and economic recessions of recent times. 

Links to Theorists

• Sorel -"political myths" - e.g. General Strikes as an "expression of the will"
• Bergson - vitalism  - give expression to life forces 
• "Fascism gave political expression to the most extreme forms of counter-Enlightenment thinking."  Heywood
• Mussolini and Hitler were only interested in ideas and theories of power - "to elicit an emotional response and spur the masses into action." therefore emphasised to "politics of the will" (Nietzsche)

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Fascism Essay Response: Explain the Significance of the "Cult of Personality" in Fascism

Explain the Significance of the "Cult of Personality" in Fascism. (10 Marks)

Break the question down: 

Define & Explain

• Fascists reject the liberal idea of limited government based on constitutionalism and consent. 
• Instead, fascists favour authoritarian leadership and a strong state
• These views accrue from the fascist belief that, throughout history, humans have always been ruled by dominant individuals and that such individuals stand apart from the masses who follow them
• Such leaders relate to their nations in almost mythical ways, personifying and articulating their aspirations beyond the constraints created by liberal, bourgeois political systems. These cult figures re ore than mere politicians - they are what Nietzsche called "Ubermensch" or "Supermen"

Link 1 - Charismatic leadership

• This is because they possess CHARISMA - they are powerful, omnipotent figures who reveal clear martial virtues such as honour and courage, traits which produce unquestioning reverence from followers towards their leaders and a belief in the infallibility of the leader's vision
• The idea of the supreme leader linked to a "distinctively fascist, if inverted nation of democratic rule."
• Nietzsche's Ubermensch rises above the "herd instinct" of conventional morality and lives according to their own will and desire. 

Link 2 - Theory of Supreme and Unquestionable Leadership

• Fascists turned the idea into a theory of supreme and unquestionable leadership. Hitler ditched the traditional ties of political leadership and had the German army swear their oath of loyalty to him "Der Fuhrer" in order to distance himself from any previous idea of constitutionally related leadership
• This links back to charismatic leadership - Max Weber's term "legal rational" authority operates in a framework of laws or rules; charismatic authority is potentially unlimited. This can be seen in the Nuremberg Rallies - "Adolf Hitler is in Germany. Germany is Adolf Hitler."

This is not a mark scheme for the question, its just ideas of what you could use. This is the structure I used for 10 mark questions, but you can use whatever is most suitable for you. A-levels are about independent learning - i.e. you can answer a question in anyway that is easiest for you and gains you the best marks. There is no strict structure you have to follow, just follow what suits you best! 

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Rigid Constitutions Case Study

Ireland and America - Rigid Constitutions 

Amendment to the Irish Constitution requires a referendum to be held to determine popular support or rejection for any constitutional change put forward by the Oireachtas (Irish Parliament). Examples of amendments which were made using such a procedure include two in connection with Ireland's membership of the European Union in 1972 and 1982.

The American Constitution can be amended in two ways. The first requires 2/3rds of the votes of the members of both the Houses of Congress to approve a change, and then it is set to the state legislatures or ratification conventions is organised at state level. A proposal needs the support of 3/4s of the states in order to be incorporated into the Constitution. The second method enables the states rather than Congress to initiate the process of reform - this method has never been used. 

Generally, amendments are most easily secured to flexible constitutions. When the amending process is lengthy and drawn out, changes become more difficult. There have only been 26 amendments made to the American Constitution since 1789. Well supported changes (e.g. the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s) failed to secure sufficient support to be incorporated into the document. One potential danger with rigid constitutions is that they fail to keep abreast social changes. 

The Founding Fathers of America saw that the Constitution of America was so well suited that the amendment process should be difficult. In the UK, a law can be repealed at any moment by any government - a very flexible method of change, making quite dangerous in a opposite way e.g. the Dangerous Dogs Act was quickly implemented and was rushed, meaning that there a loopholes in the law, Evidently, at least in the UK if a law is implemented that goes against the thoughts of the political party (if the Conservatives ever repealed the Hunting ban) they can do so easily. 

In Ireland, the focus of the relationship between the government and the Catholic church stresses the rigidity of their constitution further. The laws surrounding abortion make it extremely hard for women to have an abortion and with the amendment process against them too, it means that it is a hard situation for them to gain more control over their bodies. 

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