no information available
Since 1979, conservative parties in many parts of the world have won a series of elections which has led many to conclude that the 1980s has become a decade of conservative dominance. More fundamentally, these electoral victories have been reinforced by a series of policy changes throughout the democratic world which often reflect conservative influence: widespread privatization, curtailed government spending, and modified taxation policies. Do these manifestations mark a fundamental change in the nature of conservatism? What impact, if any, might this change have on liberal democratic policies? To answer these questions, this volume studies the experience of a number of representative conservative parties in Europe and the United States. These national studies reveal the difficulties facing conservatism up to the early 1970s and the success of conservatism since then. Explanations for these changes are found in political cultures, the characteristics of particular parties or forms of conservatism, and in the social bases of conservatism. This study of conservatism internationally will be of interest to political scientists and students of comparative politics, as well as to those involved in contemporary affairs and history.
