Article Critique on Government Intervention DOING LESS BY DOING MORE: BR

Richardson's primary thesis is that the attempt by the

British Government under Mrs. Thatcher and her successors to

limit the role of the state, to reduce government intervention in

society and to promote a return to freer markets, has actually

resulted in a "massive increase in direct state intervention in

Richardson argues that previously policy was determined by

a complicated set of interactions between government and private

interests, a sharing of power "between government and organised

society," (181) which was characterized by "a very close and

often symbiotic" (180) relationship between regulators and

regulated. Under this system "very few organized interests have

been refused access to policy makers." (181). He then traces the

disillusionment in Britain and elsewhere with the failures of the

welfare state and socialist direction of the economy and the

sluggish response of established institutions to the need for

fundamental changes in policy direction and their systemic

workings, "Britain's reform deficit." (182).

The former system has been replaced by one in which "there

was a conscious attempt to move from a consensual to an

impositional style of governing" and "conflictual politics." (183). In seeking "to facilitate the operation of market forces"

. . .
trend toward "regulatory creep" and the lack of accountability (to anyone) of new agencies, which "appear to have their own independent conceptions of what is in the state's [or the public] interest." (191) Richardson says that these new bodies are less accessible and susceptible to influence by private interests than were the government departments which previously regulated them. (190). Methodology and Substructure Richardson uses an empirical approach to prove his findings. He marshals an impressive array of facts drawn from the actual development and implementation of policy initiatives in a variety of areas, including education, health, industrial support, the privatization and deregulation of specific industries, employment law and labour relations and the government's opposition to social regulatory schemes emanating from the European Union. He uses contrasts between the past and present and draws historical analogies. He also traces carefully the changes in the outlook of particular agencies and convincingly demonstrates the "move from conventional direct governmental action or 'interference,' to a more comple system of rulemaking and implementation,
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Approximate Word count = 1394
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)