Margaret Thatcher and Political Leadership

Political leadership involves many attributes. It often includes a power relationship, a capacity to persuade, as well as intuitive tactical and strategic skills. However political leadership is also framed by an individual's particular emotional and psychological development.

Margaret Thatcher grew up in a small apartment on the top floor of her father's grocery. She entered the political arena at an early age, coaxed along by her father. She often took notes at her father's political meetings, helped out in local election campaigns and worked at Conservative Party headquarters whenever she could (Harris, 1988, p.44). Thatcher was 14 when World War II began, and she immediately plunged into patriotic service and continual support for the policies of Winston Churchill.

Thatcher began her undergraduate studies at Somerville College Oxford in 1943. She entered as a reader in Chemistry and quickly became involved in religious and political activities. By 1949 she had become the youngest candidate to be considered for a Party seat, and the only woman (Dahl and Neubauer, 1968). In terms of political leadership, Margaret Thatcher is most often considered as more like Ronald Reagan than any other political figure of her era. The two were considered to be toughminded Cold Warriors with conservative domestic fiscal policies. Margaret Thatcher was the Iron Lady to Ronald Reagan's John Waynelike presidential figure.

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st, rather than trust, as a basic stance toward other people in her political life (Erikson, 1963; Dellheim, 1995). Yet in looking at the other psychosocial stages Erikson established and their tasks, Thatcher seems to have resolved most of those more favorably. Clearly, hers was a position more of autonomy, initiative, industry, and identity, rather than doubt, guilt, inferiority, and role confusion. Perhaps there was more trouble with the intimacy vs. Isolation resolution, but her life seems to show a capacity for intimacy with a partner, or at least a very satisfying relationship for both people. In terms of generativity, too, she has maintained a role as contributor and leader to the national life. Finally, despair does not seem her lot. In general, then, the basic issue seems to be one of trust vs. mistrust (although her leadership was also somewhat shamebased in terms of other people). If this had been resolved more favorably, perhaps Thatcher would have retained the love and affection of her fellow citizens in a fashion similar to Winston Churchill, rather than feeling betrayed and abandoned by them. As it was, this basic mistrust and reliance on religious principles that emphasize the originally sinful nature of hum
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Approximate Word count = 2282
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page)

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