Title: The path to devolution and change : a political history of Scotland under Margaret Thatcher /
Authors: Stewart, David.
Publisher: Tauris Academic Studies ; Distributed in the United States and Canada exclusively by Palgrave Macmillan,
Year: 2009
Subjects: Thatcher, Margaret.; Conservatism Scotland History; Scotland Politics and government; Great Britain Politics and government
Abstract: Margaret Thatcher's premiership from 1979 to 1990 had a profound impact on Scotland. David Stewart analyzes the impact of this period of Conservative government on Scotland, while examining the extent to which Conservative policy under Thatcher represented a break from the 'post-war consensus' in British politics. Focusing on the origins and impact of the poll tax, the campaign to save Ravenscraig steelworks, the sharpening of the North/South divide, the 1984/85 miners' strike, and the balance of power within Scottish civil society, he makes substantial contributions to the debates surrounding the decline of Scottish Unionism, the roots of Scottish devolution, the legacy of Thatcherism, and the changing British constitution.
Contents: Introduction -- 'The architect's work?' : the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party, 1886-1990 -- Sink or swim? : the Scottish economy under Thatcher -- Slaying the dragon : the onslaught on the Scottish trade union movement -- 'Social Thatcherism'? : welfare provision in Scotland -- 'The runaway train'? : Scottish local government in the Thatcher era -- Rule Britannia? : Thatcher and the 'Scottish question' -- Conclusion.