Conservatism, neoliberalism and cakeism.
| Date | 22 June 2022 |
| Author | Jackson, Ben |
Robert Saunders's characteristically lucid and powerful article makes an indispensable contribution to clarifying the character of contemporary British Conservatism. Saunders shows that we should think of Boris Johnson not as a deviation from the Conservative tradition but rather as the culmination of how Conservatism has changed in recent decades. Saunders's article has the inestimable virtue of screening out the day-to-day media frenzy and focusing on the deeper historical story that has brought us to this juncture. I am in enthusiastic agreement with Saunders's depiction of that story, so I would simply like to add two additional points. First, I want to register the importance of ideological change within Conservatism, as a condition of Johnson's rise but also as a source of persisting political tension within the party. Second, I will reflect in more detail on the politics of what Saunders describes as Johnson's 'cakeist' tendency.
The end of neoliberal 'globalism'
Saunders assembles a formidable list of the factors that have pushed Conservatism in a new direction over the last decade or so: a loss of anchoring in key social institutions such as business and the church; the end of the Cold War and socialism as an alternative economic system; the decline of class politics and the rise of populism; the retreat of Scottish and Welsh conservatism; and a (faulty) historical memory of Thatcherism as a product of sheer political willpower and creative destruction. It is a great list and I do not want to subtract from it. I do want to add one item to it, though, which is our old friend the ideology of neoliberalism and, more specifically, how neoliberal ideology has mutated over the last couple of decades.
As scholars of neoliberalism have noted, the intellectual origins of contemporary right populism - and of Brexit - are in part to be found within competing factions of the neoliberal right. Earlier neoliberal thinkers and activists had broadly...
Get this document and AI-powered insights with a free trial of vLex and Vincent AI
Get Started for FreeCOPYRIGHT GALE, Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting