Evaluating Thatcher: Sceptical Versus Synthetic Approaches

Sceptical approaches to the Thatcher governments provide a useful corrective to exaggerated accounts of their impacts. In particular they point to dependencies in policy-making and implementation. However, evaluating Thatcher via comparison with other post-war UK governments questions excessive scepticism. It suggests that Thatchers governments have made more of a difference than most of their predecessors. In contrast with sceptical views, synthetic views see the significance of the Thatcher governments as more than the sum of their parts. They identify dynamic qualities in the Thatcher governments' approach to policy change, particularly regarding 'policy learning' and 'rolling agendas'.