The Major governments and the limits of neo-liberal reform of the means of state power

Résumé 0

The extent to which the state attempts to shelter its monopoly over the means of violence from the free market may be regarded as a critical case for the development of the New Right vision of the state. In this respect, the Major administrations of 1990-1997 attempted to pursue reforms which went considerably further than the preceding Thatcher governments, in extending the disciplines of New Public Management into state functions such as the police and defence. Firstly, this paper looks at the introduction of quasi-market mechanisms in the defence sector, particularly in relation to the supply of defence equipment and the expansion of involvement by the private sector. The peace dividend resulting from the end of the Cold War enabled the Major governments to progress considerably further than Margaret Thatcher in this sphere. Secondly, but more controversially, the case of the police shows how the Major governments attempted to restructure areas of state employment that had previously been largely immune to reform. Although Major’s success was uneven, these reforms provided the basis for further changes pursued, more thoroughly, by the New Labour project after 1997.